England starting 11 odds: Who will Southgate pick against Croatia?
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England boss Gareth Southgate has named his provisional squad for the European Championship and the battle for places in the opening match against Croatia now begins.
Southgate has selected a 33-man party that will be trimmed down to 26 players on June 1, allowing him to include several players who are injury doubts while 12 members of his squad could feature in this week’s Europa League and Champions League finals.
Coral have a market on who will be picked to face Croatia so here we assess the options available and some of the England starting 11 odds.
Goalkeepers
Nick Pope looked a genuine threat to Jordan Pickford’s status as England’s number one but the absence of the Burnley shot-stopper means Pickford is 1/6 to keep the gloves.
Manchester United’s Dean Henderson is 6/1 to be selected, with the uncapped duo of Aaron Ramsdale and Sam Johnstone (both 25/1) highly unlikely to feature at any point.
Defenders
John Stones looks certain to start at 1/20 assuming he comes through the Champions League final on Saturday unscathed but Harry Maguire’s current odds of 1/3 could drift if it appears he will not recover from an ankle injury in time, having missed the last four games of the Premier League season.
Trent Alexander-Arnold has made the 33-man squad but Southgate is spoilt for choice at right-back where Kyle Walker (1/10), Kieran Trippier and Reece James (9/2) are other options.
The left-back spot looks a shoot-out between Manchester United’s Luke Shaw at 4/6 and Chelsea’s Ben Chilwell at 11/10, with both hoping to win a European trophy before joining up with the squad.
The likes of Conor Coady, Ben White (both 8/1) and Ben Godfrey (16/1) could drop out of the squad when Southgate has to reduce his options.
Midfielders
Jordan Henderson is included despite not having played for Liverpool since February following groin surgery.
The 30-year-old is one of England’s most experienced players and part of the leadership group so will be given plenty of time to prove his fitness and is evens to start against Croatia.
Kalvin Phillips (6/4) and Jack Grealish (6/1) have also had recent injury problems while Jesse Lingard is 13/2 to start, having looked certain to have the summer off before his January loan move to West Ham which proved such a success.
Phil Foden (1/5) and Mason Mount (1/16) will be on opposite sides in the Champions League final but look certain to start together for England.
Forwards
Harry Kane won the Golden Boot at the 2018 World Cup and ended the season as the top scorer in the Premier League so is almost certain to start against Croatia at 1/20.
Raheem Sterling (4/6) and Marcus Rashford (evens) are the other obvious attacking options while Mason Greenwood (16/1) and Ollie Watkins (20/1) may not make the final squad despite being chosen in the provisional party ahead of the likes of Danny Ings and Patrick Bamford.
All odds and markets correct as of date of publication
