England v Switzerland betting tips: Three Lions on a Swiss roll
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England have a couple of friendlies against Switzerland and Ivory Coast during the international break before the Nations League gets under way in June and the World Cup starts in November.
The Three Lions, fifth in the FIFA rankings, have an excellent record against the Swiss and are 8/11 favourites to win at Wembley on Saturday, although head coach Gareth Southgate has had to make several alterations to his original squad.
It promises to be a decent game, so let’s look at some of the major talking points in our England v Switzerland betting tips.
England v Switzerland form
Harry Kane scored four goals as England wrapped up their World Cup qualifying campaign with a 10-0 victory at San Marino to confirm their place in Qatar.
England topped Group I with an unbeaten record of eight wins and a couple of draws, while their rout of San Marino meant they were the top scorers of all the qualifiers with 39 goals.
The Three Lions also reached the Euro 2020 final last year so they are in excellent form, but Trent Alexander-Arnold, Reece James, Aaron Ramsdale and Tammy Abraham have all pulled out of the squad, replaced by Sam Johnstone and Ollie Watkins, while there were first senior call-ups for Tyrick Mitchell and Kyle Walker-Peters.
Ollie. 😁 pic.twitter.com/cXlJUSmNfx
— England (@England) March 22, 2022
England had some big wins against poor teams in their group, but they won 4-0 in Hungary and 5-0 at home to Albania, and are 2/1 to win by at least a couple of goals on Saturday.
Southgate’s men have kept clean sheets in five of their last seven matches and are 31/20 to win to nil, but the Swiss do not concede many and a low-scoring encounter looks on the cards, with England 23/10 to win and under 2.5 match goals.
Switzerland’s World Cup qualifying campaign was arguably more impressive, finishing two points clear of Italy at the top of Group C and they also reached the quarter-finals of Euro 2020.
They drew both games against Italy and are 12/5 to share the spoils in our England v Switzerland betting tips or it’s 29/10 on the match to finish either 0-0 or 1-1.
The Swiss finished third in their group at Euro 2020 and scored twice in the final 10 minutes to take world champions France to extra time in the round of 16, eventually prevailing on penalties, but lost to Spain in the same way in the last eight so they can certainly mix it with elite teams.
England v Switzerland head to head
England are unbeaten against Switzerland in more than 40 years, winning eight of the last 12 meetings.
Their last encounter came at the Nations League finals almost three years ago, a goalless draw which England won on penalties to seal third spot.
Skipper. © pic.twitter.com/7fxBXdtpaH
— England (@England) March 22, 2022
A goalless draw is not out of the question at 7/1, but England had won the previous three 1-0, 2-0 and 2-0, so under 2.5 goals looks plausible at 8/13.
Draw HT/England FT is available at 3/1, while the hosts are 7/4 to be ahead at the break and the final whistle, while winning both halves is 4/1.
Key Battles
Southgate generally has an embarrassment of riches at right-back, but with Alexander-Arnold and James both out Kieran Trippier may get the nod at Wembley, with Luke Shaw possibly on the other flank, with either Mitchell or Walker-Peters coming on in the second half.
England’s centre-backs face a tough task marshalling striker Breel Embolo who impressed at Euro 2020 before injury cut short his tournament.
Eyes on the prize! pic.twitter.com/KdaMg0E0Kl
— England (@England) March 22, 2022
Crystal Palace also have Marc Guehi and on-loan Conor Gallagher in the England squad and it will be interesting to see how they fare given the opportunity.
Granit Xhaka is expected to be in the heart of midfield for the Swiss, while Xherdan Shaqiri is also expected to start having netted his first goal for Chicago Fire at the weekend.
England v Switzerland team news
Southampton goalkeeper Fraser Forster earned his first call-up since 2017 as a replacement for Johnstone, who had only been brought in on Monday to step in for the injured Ramsdale.
Bukayo Saka became the sixth player to leave the squad having tested positive for coronavirus on Thursday.
Goalscorer odds
In-form striker Kane is unsurprisingly the 14/5 favourite to get the ball rolling as he did against the Swiss in a Euro 2016 qualifier in 2015 and 23/20 to get on the scoresheet.
Kane has netted seven goals in as many appearances in the Premier League and he was the joint-top scorer in World Cup qualifying with 12 goals.
Sterling and Phil Foden are 9/2 and 11/2 and respectively to break the deadlock or 2/1 and 23/10 to score.
Of the outsiders, hard-working midfielder Gallagher can be backed at 14/5 to score, James Ward-Prowse is 9/2 and Guehi is 10/1 to get on the scoresheet as he did in the 4-0 win against Everton in the FA Cup at the weekend, his fourth goal of the season.
For the Swiss, Mario Gavranovic is the 7/1 favourite to draw first blood, with Embolo slightly longer at 15/2, and they are 3/1 and 7/2 respectively just to score.
Shaqiri is 4/1 to find the net and penalty taker Ricardo Rodriguez is 12/1 in our England v Switzerland betting tips.
Match info
Where: Wembley
When: 17:30, Saturday 26th March
How to watch: Sky Sports
View the latest World Cup qualifying odds
All odds and markets correct as of date of publication
