Netherlands v Ukraine betting tips: Dutch back on the big stage
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Preview and odds for Sunday’s match
Netherlands are former European Championship winners and begin their bid for a second continental crown against Ukraine in Amsterdam.
The Dutch are back at a major tournament after failing to qualify for Euro 2016 and the 2018 World Cup but Ukraine could prove to be tricky opening opponents.
Sunday’s match is live on ITV and kicks off at 8pm as we highlight a few potential Netherlands v Ukraine betting tips.
Netherlands v Ukraine match odds
The Dutch squad has plenty of talented players capable of lighting up the tournament but more of the talk in the last few months has been over who is missing.
Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk has failed to recover from injury in time and will be badly missed at the heart of the defence while Donny van de Beek’s difficult season at Manchester United has ended with him being absent due to a groin injury.
Despite that the Netherlands are 4/6 to make a winning start but have looked shaky at the back at times recently, needing a late equaliser to rescue a 2-2 draw with Scotland in a friendly and losing 4-2 to Turkey in World Cup qualifying.
Both teams to score can be backed at 23/20 while the Dutch are 5/4 to drop points in their first game.
Ukraine finished top of their qualifying group ahead of Portugal and held France to a 1-1 draw in World Cup qualifying in March.
A Nations League win against Spain in October also highlighted the threat of Andriy Shevchenko’s side and Ukraine are 5/1 for victory, with the draw priced at 13/5.
There have been some heavy defeats in the last 12 months too, though, including a 4-0 defeat in Spain and a 7-1 thrashing by France, with clean sheets proving hard to come by recently.
That makes over 2.5 goals an interesting selection at 5/4 while a Dutch win and at least three goals is 19/10.
Netherlands v Ukraine head-to-head
This is the first competitive meeting between the two nations, with their two previous encounters being friendlies.
Netherlands were 3-0 winners in 2008 but Ukraine put up a better showing two years later in a 1-1- draw.
Previous XI
Ukraine: Pyatov, Sobol, Kryvtsov, Zabarnyi, Matvyenko, Malinovsky, Makarenko, Zinchenko, Zubkov, Yarmolenko, Yaremchuk.
Team news
Netherlands coach Frank De Boer has confirmed Matthijs De Ligt will not be fit for the match because of a groin issue.
Goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg is set to start ahead of Norwich’s Tim Krul.
Key battles
Daley Blind is the experienced head in the Dutch defence which will have an easier task due to the loss of Junior Moraes from the Ukraine attack due to injury.
The key man for Ukraine will be Ruslan Malinovsky, who has impressed for Atalanta in Serie A this season and is the best hope of controlling possession in midfield.
Dutch skipper Gini Wijnaldum plays a more attacking role for his country than he does for Liverpool and is 7/2 to find the net but the main goal threat is Memphis Depay, who starts the tournament as a 16/1 shot to win the golden boot.
Depay is the favourite at 7/2 in the first goalscorer odds while 7/4 is on offer for the Netherlands to win and Depay to have two or more shots on target.
All odds and markets correct as of date of publication
