Content Editor at Free Super Tips, Alex was born in the shadow of Old Trafford and is an avid Man Utd fan. After graduating from university he combined his love of football, writing and betting to join FST and now closely follows goings-on in all of the top European leagues.
FST’s Euro 2020 signing Statman Dave has already brought us some excellent insight this tournament, including his Euro 2020 Group F preview and his overall outright predictions, but he’s back again with even more!
Today he looks ahead to one of the most highly anticipated games in the UK and England and Scotland meet at Wembley on Friday night.
England put in a composed performance in their 1-0 win over Croatia on Sunday afternoon and on Monday we saw Scotland rue their missed chances as they lost at Hampden Park to Czech Republic.
Statman Dave’s England vs Scotland preview
England and Scotland’s opening games at Euro 2020 contrasted massively: England managed their game vs. Croatia well and got out with three points and without really having been tested, whilst Scotland’s game against Czech Republic was pure chaos.
Steve Clarke will take comfort in the fact that his side created plenty of chances (14 shots from inside the box) and were only killed off by a wondergoal, but they face a tougher test on Friday.
England’s use of inverted full-backs allowed them to dominate the ball and win that midfield battle with Croatia, however the final third will be more important than the middle against Scotland’s 3-5-2.
With Declan Rice almost playing as a third centre-back at times, Kalvin Phillips should be able to push up once again and create overloads to test Scotland’s backline.
A natural playmaker like Jack Grealish or Jadon Sancho could be a better fit here than the in-behind threat of Raheem Sterling, but I’d be surprised to see England’s goalscorer dropped.
The aerial threat of Lyndon Dykes is a concern given Harry Maguire’s absence, however Tyrone Mings won 76% of his aerial duels in the league last season so he should be able to deputise well in that role.
I’d expect England to match Scotland’s intensity in the middle third and have that extra quality in the final third to get the win. If they score early, they could smell blood and Harry Kane will be well aware that he’s slacking in the Golden Boot race.
I’d suggest Harry Kane to score anytime, England to win and over 2.5 England goals.
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