EURO 2021 finalists England and Italy face each other for the first time back at Wembley Stadium on Tuesday night, in a game that could be vital to how Group C finishes.
England come into the game having won four and drawn one of their five group C games, leaving them top of the table. However, they struggled to impress during their last game against Australia where they scraped through 1-0 winners from an Ollie Watkins goal.
Italy haven’t lost in the group since the opening fixture, when they lost to Tuesday’s opponents 2-1 at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona. They do sit level on points with Ukraine, but with a game in hand and a better head-to-head record so far, they’ll be hopeful of qualifying after failing to do so for the 2022 World Cup.
England vs Italy
Tuesday 17 October, 19:45
Wembley Stadium
England and Italy started their qualification campaigns against one another back in March, where England got their own back after losing on penalties in the EURO 2021 final. An eventful 2-1 win with Declan Rice and Harry Kane scoring for England and Mateo Retegui for Italy, before Luke Shaw was dismissed with 10 minutes remaining.
The Three Lions continued to impress in their following four group games, winning four and drawing one while scoring 16 and conceding an impressive two goals. This form has earned them the chance to guarantee themselves a top two finish and therefore qualification for EURO 2024 in their next match, with a win securing this for them. A draw may also be enough for England if Ukraine, who have played a game more, are unable to defeat Malta in their qualifier.
Italy have won three and drawn one since their opening day defeat, including a 2-1 win over Ukraine which sees them take second place because of a superior head-to-head record despite both being on 10 points. However, with the final group game seeing them come up against one another, Italy will be pushing to make sure they don’t sit on equal points with Ukraine going into this game to avoid it becoming a play-off like scenario.
While Italy will want to qualify directly through the group stage, they would have a chance to qualify through the Nation’s League play-off thanks to winning their Nations League group if they are to fail in qualifying through group C. Although with recent bad memories in play-offs, having lost to North Macedonia in the World Cup qualifier, they will want to avoid this happening.
Bet9ja Tips:
We expect England to make the most of their home advantage in this game, continuing their current 12-game winning streak in EURO qualifiers in home stadiums. You can get odds of this to happen of 1.67 with Bet9ja. A tight game can be expected, and another 2-1 England victory over the Italians is priced up at 8.60.
Harry Kane sits on five goals in his five appearances during the qualification stage, and alongside his form for club side Bayern Munich, we expect England’s talisman will score once again. You can get odds of him to score anytime throughout the match of 2.25, while being the first goalscorer is priced at 4.45.
Bet9ja Odds (at time of writing): England win: 1.67, Draw: 3.80, Italy win: 5.50
