England U21 v Poland U21: Young Lions to prove too strong
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England need victory over Poland to guarantee top spot in Group A – and progression to the Semi-Finals of the Under-21 European Championships. But while the pressure is on the Young Lions, there’s every reason to believe they’ll come through.
Aidy Boothroyd’s men haven’t lost a competitive game since June 2015, while opponents Poland have lost three of their last four matches – with only an injury-time equaliser against Sweden in their last game saving them from a quartet of successive defeats.
That means backing England to win looks a pretty safe bet at odds of 4/7, with the Poles 4/1 for victory and 14/5 on offer for honours-even.
However, with modest returns available on the Young Lions simply winning, the best value could lie with backing Boothroyd’s men in other markets.
On the goalscorer front, talented midfielder Lewis Baker has netted in seven of his last 11 outings for the Under-21s, scoring the opener in four of those games. He’s 13/5 to grab a goal anytime against Poland, while 7/1 says he breaks the deadlock once again.
However, we don’t think he’ll spark a goalfest. England tend to be pragmatic in big games, and have won 1-0 on three occasions since last May.
With their first two matches in this competition producing just three goals combined, we like the 7/1 for another 1-0 victory – while there’s 10/3 on offer for England to win and Under 2.5 Goals.
The form of both sides suggest that whatever net-bulging action we do get in this tie is likely to come early on.
England’s have netted their first goal of the game within the opening 10 minutes in three of the last eight fixtures. And there’s 11/2 for that to happen once again here.
But while the Poles might struggle to break Boothroyd’s side down, Marcin Doma’s men have struck in the first 10 minutes of each of their prior group games. So if you do fancy them to get anything, the 10/1 on offer for them to repeat that feat could be a savvy selection.
Click here for the latest England Under-21 v Poland Under-21 odds.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing
