PICK OF THE DAY
Tunisia - England
Tip : X-2 (HT-FT)
Odd: 4.00
FT : 1:1 - 1:2 WIN!!!
It’s been a long two years since England’s humiliation in France at Euro 2016, but the time has come for them to try and lay those demons to rest in the World Cup. Their opening match takes place in Volgograd, and they will be expected to get off to a winning start against Tunisia.
Tunisia aren’t a team to be walked over though. They showed that in their final warm up game on Saturday as they almost held Spain to a goalless draw, only for the Spaniards to be rescued by a late Iago Aspas goal. This followed on from draws against both Turkey and Tunisia, so they aren’t a bad team by any stretch of the imagination.
In fact, that loss to Spain was their first in over a year, with them winning five and drawing four of their nine matches in between. Of course, the strength of the opposition has to be taken into account, but just the fact that they went unbeaten in the qualifying campaign indicates that this won’t be as easy as people think.
Gareth Southgate will be well aware of this though, and has focused on keeping everything tight at the back during their pre-World Cup warm up friendlies. England beat Nigeria 2-1 and Costa Rica 2-0 in these matches. Promising results, but victories that were expected given the quality of the two sides.
This does extend The Three Lion’s unbeaten streak to ten matches though, with their last defeat coming almost exactly a year ago in a friendly against France. That historic defeat to Iceland is actually the last time they have lost to a side outside the top 10 in the FIFA World Rankings.
A defender in his playing days, it makes sense that Southgate is opting for stability at the back. England have kept a clean sheet in six of their last eight matches, and that includes games against heavyweights such as Germany, Brazil, and Italy.
Obviously the downside to this tactic is that it leaves England rather stale going forward, and once again this is reflected in recent results. They may have only conceded two goals, but they have only scored eight in the same period. Meanwhile, Tunisia have only conceded five goals in their last six games.
We’re expecting a low scoring affair here, but England definitely have enough about them to take the three points. All but one of their last eight matches have seen fewer than three goals, as have four of Tunisia’s last six. This makes an England Win and Under 2.5 Goals look good value for money, along with a 1-0 correct score predictions.
Tunisia Predicted Lineup: Mathlouthi, Bronn, Ben Youssef, Menah, Maaloul, Shkiri, Khaoui, Sassi, Sliti, Badri, Ben Youssef
England Predicted Lineup: Pickford, Stones, Cahill, Walker, Trippier, Rose, Henderson, Alli, Lingard, Sterling, Kane
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