England vs Croatia Prediction & Betting Tips - Euro

Prediction published on 09/06/2021, 23:16  by Daniel Ngulu | Modified on 10/06/2021 at 14:32 in Euro Predictions

England meet Croatia in the two nations’ opening game in Group D at Euro 2020 on Sunday, and it is hard not to say England will be on a revenge mission in this clash at Wembley. The two nations met at the semi finals of the 2018 World Cup with Croatia emerging winners, and England may feel this is a perfect chance for avenging. They did meet earlier in the Nations League though, and England won but a win here would be golden. England go to this clash straight from two victories in their warm up matches, beating Austria and Romania in narrow 1-0 wins. The most recent, against Romania, extended their winning run to six straight, and it was their fifth clean sheet in the six matches. In the last three matches, England have faced stronger opposition, and won by one-goal margins, but five of their last 10 matches have produced over 2.5 goals. They have lost twice in that run of 10 matches, against Denmark and Belgium. Playing at Wembley will favor England; in their last 16 matches on home soil, England have lost just once, and won 15. The presence of fans will further propel them.

Croatia have been on and off in the three years after the 2018 World Cup and even heading to this tournament, they aren’t in a very strong position. They get to play their first game after going without a win in their two warm up games, drawing with lower ranked Armenia and falling to Belgium in the final friendly match. Earlier on, they lost to Slovenia in World Cup qualification, then Portugal, Sweden and France in the Nations League and it is safe to say they haven’t beaten any notable opponent in the last nine matches. Their two wins in that run have come against Cyprus and Malta in the World Cup qualifiers and even then, only the Malta win looked comfortable. They won 3-0 on that occasion, and the earlier 1-0 win over Cyprus represent the only clean sheets for Croatia in their last 16 matches. Further, they have three straight losses in away matches, and are winless in the last four.