Nations League: England v Greece preview, predictions and tips

Ladbrokes shares its preview, predictions and betting tips for England v Greece on October 10 in the UEFA Nations League at Wembley Stadium.

In what is his second camp as England's interim manager, Lee Carsley prepares to take the men's national team to Wembley Stadium on Thursday evening to take on a determined Greek squad led by Ivan Jovanovic.

The two nations haven't actually shared the field in nearly 20 years, when England beat Greece 4-0 in a friendly in August 2006. Carsley and co will definitely be hoping for more of the same this time around.

On October 10, England head back to Wembley Stadium after two straight wins in their Nations League games in September to face Greece, who have only lost one of their last four fixtures.

England are heading into the game as heavy favourites with the bookies, as expected, with the latest odds suggesting that the Three Lions will storm to a relatively easy win.

However, Greece drew with France in November 2023, and their only loss this year has been a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Germany in June before Euro 2024, so they won't be a total walkover.

It's not all good news for England on the selection front, as Ezri Konsa, Morgan Gibbs-White and Kobbie Mainoo all pulled up with injuries in the final Premier League matches before the international break, and have subsequently been withdrawn.

Curtis Jones and Tino Livramento have been called up in their place though, but there are still a few doubts over the fitness of some star men for England, despite the first game taking place so soon.

Harry Kane has been allowed to report to England national team duty, but he's certainly not fully match fit, and there's a feeling that Carsley may opt to star Ollie Watkins from Aston Villa or the returning Dominic Solanke of Tottenham in his place, at least for the first game against Greece.

Kyle Walker is back in the squad, having been committed last time out, but there's a feeling that the Man City man is now behind Trent Alexander-Arnold in the pecking order, with the Liverpool man putting his side firmly in the running to win the Premier League.

In goal for Greece is Odysseas Vlachodimos, who Newcastle fans will know as the goalkeeper they signed this summer from Nottingham Forest, who has yet to star in the league for his new club.

As noted, Kane could well be missing for England, and Greece as without their star striker too. Fotis Ioannidis picked up an injury in Panathiakos' recent game against Olympiacos, and has had to withdraw from the squad.

It's now all doom and gloom though, as ioannidis' replacement is Benfica's Vangelis Pavlidis, who is a top striker on his day in his own right.

Possible starting line-ups:

England - Pickford; Alexander-Arnold, Guehi, Stones, Colwill; Rice, Bellingham; Saka, Palmer, Grealish; Watkins

Greece - Vlachodimos; Rota, Mavropanos, Koulierakis, Tsimikas; Siopis, Kourbelis; Masouras, Bakasetas, Tzolis; Pavlidis

The bookies have England as the favourites to win the game, and our team of analysts simply can't see the game ending with anything other than all three points for the Three Lions.

So, we're going to go one further and predict that England don't concede a goal in the game, as we did in our latest international football accumulator, with Carsley's side having won both of their games in September without being breached.

A lot of the chatter in the first seven games of the Premier League has been about Cole Palmer, who has proved that he's one of the best players in the league in his position, and silencing his doubters with his performances for Chelsea.

Our next bet focuses on Palmer, and we expect the ex-Man City man to not only start for England, but to find the back of the net against Greece, potentially even from the 10 position.

Despite playing at right-back, Alexander-Arnold was England's star man in their new prior friendlies in September, with Carsley wanting the defender to invert into midfield, where he created a plethora of chances.

We expect the Liverpool man to do the same against Greece on October 10, so much so that we're tipping Trent to end the game with a least one assist to his name, if not more.

You can either place the aforementioned bets individually, or combine them into a larger bet builder, which you can see below.

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All odds and markets are correct as of the date of publication.