England hosts Iceland on Friday in the final act before their European Championship exploits in Germany.
Against The Icemen
With a 26-man squad being named on Saturday, who will join James Maddison in the list of names being left at the airport?
Leaving Names Behind
Although England managed to make eventual light work of Bosnia on Monday, their win at St James’ Park was certainly a game of two halves and with the supporting cast largely fluffing their lines in the first 45 minutes, it was down to the usual suspects to lead the Three Lions to victory.
In a game where the likes of Ollie Watkins and Jarrod Bowen were given opportunities to show what they were about, truth be told they did not show that much and although the former is likely to go to Germany, the latter has not secured his seat just yet.
If only because the attacking options are so plentiful for manager Gareth Southgate and with the decision to leave James Maddison behind already being made public, the likes of Bowen and other wide forwards such as Eberechi Eze and Cole Palmer are arguably fighting over the spare tickets.
Palmer scoring from the spot in England’s 3-0 win on Monday, Eze looking a handful while versatile at the same time and although Bowen has been a handful when with West Ham these past couple of seasons, club form has not quite migrated over to the international theatre.
Therefore, the West Ham star now has one more opportunity to show his worthiness for Germany and Friday night sees the 27-year-old and his follow English lions prepare for the visit of Iceland to Wembley.
Just an international friendly this time around and not the higher stakes of Euro 2016 when Roy Hodgson’s time as England manager came to an abrupt end at the hands of the Icelandic minnows in Nice.
That win and their eventual last eight exit eight years ago was the start of the boom period for Icelandic international football and two years later the Nordic nation would find itself reaching the group stage of the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
However, the Icelandic footballing volcano has failed to erupt in recent years and with them being in both the Euro’s and World Cup finals wilderness in the six years since, England will fancy their chances of a routine win on Friday.
With it being the last roll of the experimental dice before the travelling 26-man party is announced, do not be surprised if another fleet of England changes are announced an hour before kickoff. At the same time, do not be surprised if a raft of substitutions are made on the hour and beyond.
But now it is time for the first of my two tips and the only value attached to an England win is another slow start due to experiments. A draw at the interval, followed by victory at the final whistle is currently priced at 11/4 for Gareth Southgate’s men.
In addition to this and using the same logic as above, this might be a rather laborious performance from the Three Lions. Therefore, I am going to back a 1-0 win as the safety-first approach is priced at 17/2.
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