Italy vs. England: preview and betting tips

The opening match will see the two big favourites to win Group C and the overall championship at Euro 2024 clash. Can the English finally win against the Italians? They haven’t managed to do so for 6 matches!

Despite a star-studded squad, Albion are unable to beat the Italian national team. This fact certainly hurt the most at Wembley in 2021 when Harry Kane and co. lost the Euro final.

This defeat was one that Italy coach Gareth Southgate’s team tried to avenge last year when the two teams met in the Nations League, but the players from the south of Europe first played out a goalless draw and then beat the English 1-0.

The last time Albion defeated Italy was in 2012, but that was the only victory in 14 matches between the two sides. In this opening duel, however, the away side will be the favourites and their odds are even currently dropping.

This is of course not surprising, as we mentioned above, Southgate has a number of top players at his disposal, but even that is not enough against Italy’s precise play and commitment. So the question arises, why should anything change on Thursday?

The trio of Nick Pope, Mason Mount and Marcus Rashford have dropped out of the nomination. The starting line-up could therefore be: Pickford; Trippier, Walker, Stones, Maguire, Shaw; Rice, Bellingham; Saka, Kane, Foden.

Roberto Mancini will have almost all the key players available apart from the injured Ciro Immobile and Italy’s starting eleven could look like this: Donnarumma; Di Lorenzo, Toloi, Bonucci, Acerbi, Dimarco; Barella, Jorginho, Verratti; Scamacca, Chiesa.

What has happened since the game? Italy beat Hungary, Albania and lost to Austria. England drew with Germany and then went all the way to the semi-finals of the World Cup, where they lost to France.

However, it is clear from the matches that if there is one thing that can be relied upon, it is that not too many goals are falling. In the last two matches, only one has fallen. However, England’s games have seen a lot of goals fall recently and now the Under bet could be tricky.

Personally, I would stick to the fact that a number of England national team players are in good form and they will carry that positive energy into this duel. Of course, we have to take into account that England are much worse away than at home, so it is suggested to hedge the bet with a handicap here.

Source: UEFA, Whoscored, England national team