England vs Czech Republic Preview:
Possible starting lineups:
England:
Pickford, Walker, Maguire, Keane, Chilwell, Barkley, Rice, Dele Alli, Sterling, Harry Kane, Sancho
Czech Republic:
Pavlenka, Kaderabek, Kalas, Celustka, Selassie, Soucek, Jankto, Pavelka, Dockal, Vydra, Schick
England start their Euro 2020 qualifying campaign with a home tie against Czech Republic at Wembley. The Three Lions were successful in the previous period. They played in the semi-finals of the World Cup in Russia and finished first in their qualifications group in UEFA Nations League. Coach Gareth Southgate is doing an excellent job and the fans are satisfied. As one journalist wrote, the nation fell in love with football again. England's home record in competitive games is very good as they have 22 victories, three draws and just one defeat since 2012. They kept a clean sheet in 15 of those 22 victories, winning to nil in seven of the last 10. Southgate has a young squad and he knows how to get the maximum from his players. Maybe it's important to be mentioned that he knows them very well from when he worked with the youth set up. Starting the qualifying campaign with a victory is very important for the atmosphere in and around the national team. But Southgate has lot of injury issues ahead of this match. Four players (Luke Shaw, John Stones, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Fabian Delph) withdrew from his original squad through injury, while James Ward-Prowse and Callum Hudson-Odoi were called as replacement. That's not all as Marcus Rashford and Jordan Henderson are rated as doubtful. The captain missed the last match for Liverpool due to ankle injury, but could recover in time for this game.
Czech Republic are part of Group A together with England, Montenegro, Bulgaria and Kosovo. Coach Jaroslav Silhavy has a difficult job on his hands to secure participation for the European Championships. The FIFA rankings suggest that they should be favorites to secure the runners-up position and to earn the second qualifying spot for final tournament. Czech Republic finished on the second place (behind Ukraine) in their Nations League group. They had a record of two victories and two defeats in four group matches. Silhavy's side lost twice to Ukraine, 2:1 at home and 1:0 as guests, while won both games with Slovakia. If something could be rated as positive, that's the fact they finished 2018 with back-to-back 1:0 victories over a Poland (friendly match) and Slovakia. Jakub Jankto was scorer against Poland and Patrik Schick decided the match against Slovakia. Victory on Friday would see the Czechs pull off back-to-back away wins for the first time since November 2017. However, a defeat here will not be a catastrophe. Coach Silhavy is focused on the matches with Bulgaria and Montenegro as they represent a genuine battle for the second spot in the group. The guests have most of the players available, only Tomas Vaclik is sidelined through injury.
England vs Czech Republic Prediction:
England are big favorites on this match, though I will suggest Under 2.5 goals as I expect a low scoring match at Wembley. The key reasons for my pick is connect with the guests - Czech Republic's last three matches have produced just three goals, one per game. I expect the series to continue.
England vs Czech Republic Pick: Under 2.5 goals @ 1.88 with
Pinnacle