Euro 2024 Preparation
England v Bosnia & Herzegovina will be Monday night viewing as players will want to impress Gareth Southgate before he chooses his final squad. England v Bosnia & Herzegovina is the first time these sides have met in their history and is a warm up match for England 11 days before the Euros begin. Southgate will see this as a great opportunity to consolidate his strongest starting line up for when the tournament begins. A criticism England friendlies get is that the strength of their opponents aren’t at the level they will face in major tournaments. Bosnia are currently ranked between 63rd and 74th in the FIFA rankings, England should easily beat tonight’s opponents without conceding. My pick for the game is England to win to nil at 1.80.
England Team News
England will be without at least seven players who missed Sunday’s training session including 2023/24 Champions League winner Jude Bellingham. He will be joining the squad for the final game before the Euros. Southgate will need to trim his preliminary squad of 33 players to 26 by the 7th June and will want to give plenty of players a run out. Phil Foden and Anthony Gordon are amongst attackers who are unavailable for the game. However this could give Eberechi Eze and Cole Palmer a chance to impress.
Defensive Worries
England will be without defenders Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw and Kyle Walker. Fans will be hoping they are ready to go ahead of the first game of the Euros against Serbia. The preliminary squad is is lacking in experienced defenders, Southgate will need to assess his strongest back line and centre back pairing. Kieran Trippier will captain the side tomorrow confirming the Newcastle player will start.
Attacking Options
With Trippier captaining the side tonight, that suggests Harry Kane will not start. This paves the way for other strikers to impress including Ollie Watkins who has had a fantastic season. Ivan Toney will also be keen to score in back to back England games after his penalty against Belgium.
