King of Stats – all the numbers for the UEFA Euro U-21 Championships

The King of Stats is of the impression that Connor Wickham is worth backing at 7/2 to be England’s top scorer at the 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Championships, given he is the type of striker to thrive on the service provided by Wilfried Zaha and Tom Ince.

However, without a statistic to help back up this thought, this particular bet has had to be left out of the below, although England’s chances of beating Italy to nil and reaching the semi finals atop Group A are highlighted.

5 – Of the seven tournaments since its format changed to that of two groups for the first time in 2000, five have been won by a team from Group B. This group looks the stronger again this time and involves 7/4 favourites Spain.

9 – England have not only won their last nine games, but they have also done so without conceding. They face their toughest Group A opposition in Italy first and can be backed at 18/5 to win to nil again.

4 – In the last five tournaments, on four occasions the top goalscorer has come from the same country as the eventual winners. Germany scored 43 goals in reaching the finals, with Borussia Monchengladbach’s Peniel Mlapa helping himself to the most with eight. Mlapa top scoring in the finals and a German victory is available at 66/1.

2 – Holland may have only played in two of the last six instalments of these finals, but it is worth noting that they have emerged triumphant on both occasions. The highly regarded Kevin Strootman will need a big tournament in midfield if they are to pull through again and it is 15/2 they are crowned champions and a tempting 11/10 that they qualify for the semi finals from Group B.

3 – Pot B seems to be a productive pot in finding group winners as in the last two years, three of the four group winners have come from this pot instead of pot A or pot C. England and Holland come from this pot in 2013, with England 6/5 to win Group A and Holland 7/2 to finish atop Group B.

4 – The first game in Group B has taken on a common result in recent renewals, with four of the last five ending in a 2-1 success for the team technically playing at home. Spain find themselves in this position against Russia this time and it is 7/1 that they get their tournament off to a strong start with a 2-1 triumph.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.