Sweden v England Euro 2012 Preview & Tips

Sweden takes on England on Friday, June 15. The game takes place in Kiev with the opening whistle to fill the air at 19:45 GMT.

Teams News

Sweden

The Swedes surrendered a one goal lead against Ukraine last June 11 much to the delight of the thousands of Ukrainian fans that came to watch the game. Sweden apparently lacked attacking drive and defensive stability – especially when defending crosses – against the Yellow-Blues and this is quite alarming given the quality and style of their next opposition. Surely, Milan forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic cannot do it all for his team. He needs good support to liven up their dampened spirits after the Ukraine loss.

Sweden is a healthy squad that should be unchanged for the Three Lions game. Expect a number of tactical adjustments however; first, the Swedes will look into maintaining their shape all throughout the game. Second, a holding midfielder could be added into the mix to anchor the midfield. It’s a stern test for the Swedes come Friday but they need to win this one if they want to make it to the next stage of the tournament.

England

England just needed a good chance to earn a draw against France. They only had five shots in total against France’s 21 as Les Bleus starved the Three Lions of possession by as much as 30%. Sitting deep and maintaining good shape, England’s waterloo was an inefficient counterattacking play. This is something that you would expect Roy Hodgson to excel in but in this case, his team was just not up to the challenge to win the game.

Against France Alex Oxalade-Chamberlain got the nod ahead of Steward Downing on the left, with Ashley Young playing in the hole to support Danny Welbeck. Rooney will still be out of this game so the three youngsters will need to put in another good night in order to ensure safe passage to the knockout stages (although Oxalade-Chamberlain could be starting in the bench given his lacklustre performance last time out). Theo Walcott could be introduced to provide more problems to the Swedish defense that was taken apart by a resolute Ukraine side in the last round of matches.

Sweden v England Betting Preview

Neither side had a good Euro 2012 opener so expect them to go all-in in this one. This is after all a win-now-or-never scenario. The only issue here is that the Swedes aren’t playing together as a unit while England has been – slowly but surely – making good sense of their strength on paper. The midfield battle will also be crucial here both offensively and defensively, and so far it’s England leading the stats sheet despite being dominated in their last game.

Sweden v England over the years have ended in draws more often than not – four in the last six. The majority of these games also ended in fewer than 2.5 goals; expect this game to be more of a chess match with the team that imposes their style on the game first to win.

Betting Tip

Verdict: A narrow England win is in the works, 1-0.

Tip: A draw at 3.25 is good but England to win at 2.10 is undeniably your best prospect. This game should go under 2.5 goals at 1.66; a 1-0 win for England at 6.50 complements such punt well, so is a 1-1 draw at 6.00.

Wayne Rooney is still out so only Zlatan Ibrahimovic is your best bet to score in this game. Ibra is at 3.00 to score anytime. For England, Ashley Young looks good at 3.25 to score anytime, so is Steven Gerrard who is in the same rate.

All odds are from Bet365.com (£200 FREE BET!).