Germany v England: Where the value lies at the Olympiastadion
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Old rivals face off for the umpteenth time in Berlin when world champions Germany host England, and it’s hard to look beyond Joachim Low’s men besting Roy Hodgson’s side with both teams bagging at 7/2 with Ladbrokes.
This will be the 11th time these two have faced off since German reunification a quarter of a century ago, with Germany taking the laurels six times, England emerging victorious thrice and just one draw coming in the 1996 European Championship semi-final, which the former went on to win on penalties.
Crucially for this bet, in six of those ten matches both sides hit the back of the net at least once, with four of the past five such clashes seeing as much.
Recent form backs up this thinking, as both sides have bothered the scoreboard operator in seven of Germany’s eight home matches since their World Cup triumph in Brazil 19 months ago, with Low’s lot winning four of their five competitive fixtures at base camp during that time.
The Three Lions have shown solid form since their early exit from the same tournament, rippling the onion bag in all but two of their 16 matches and winning all of their Euro 2016 qualifiers for the concession of just three strikes.
However, one of those blanks came in a 2-0 loss away to fallen giants Spain in November, with the other bagel registered in a 0-0 draw in Ireland last June. Hodgson’s promising outfit should be able to sneak one past opposing keeper Manuel Neuer, but they look a long way off matching the champs.
With three openers in Germany’s past five matches, it’s practically impossible to look past magnificent Thomas Muller for the first goal at 4/1.
For an English alternative, Tottenham’s in-form teenager Dele Alli looks a steel at 11/2 to score at any time.
Alli has already notched eight times this term, including the opener for England last time out against France.
The fact that Liverpool’s Emre Can, scorer of two goals for the Reds this season and none in three Die Mannschaft appearances, is the same price as the Spurs man to bag in Berlin is frankly bewildering.
Germany are well-fancied favourites at 4/6, with England at 9/2 to upset the apple (strudel) cart and the draw 14/5.
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