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England vs Bosnia & Herzegovina Betting Tips
The Panel Tip 1: Bukayo Saka To Score Anytime – 27/20 With Coral
The Panel Tip 2: England To Score In Both Halves – 7/10 With BoyleSports
The Panel Tip 3: Over 5.5 Bosnia & Herzegovina Shots – 11/10 With Bet365
From a friendly in Newcastle to the Euro 2024 final in Berlin. That’s the journey England hope they are embarking on when they step up their tournament preparations with a clash against Bosnia & Herzegovina at St James’ Park on Monday (7.45pm, Channel 4).
The Three Lions are the 3/1 favourites across football betting sites to win their first major trophy since the 1966 World Cup in Germany this summer, but Gareth Southgate’s men have something to prove after a pair of underwhelming outings in March.
A loss to Brazil and a draw with Belgium means England are winless in their last three games, the longest winless run of the Southgate era.
They are expected to get back on track in their first-ever meeting with Bosnia & Herzegovina, a side that missed out on qualification for the Euros in the play-offs, losing eight of their 11 qualifiers.
It’s hard to see anything other than a routine England win with the Three Lions fairly reliable at home, and Bosnia, who will be playing their first game under new coach Sergej Barbarez, losing six of their last 10 away games.
England are a best price of 1/6 for the win and The Panel have found little to get excited about in any of the prices on the win markets.
Instead, they’ve looked elsewhere when coming up with their three best bets for Monday’s friendly.
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England vs Bosnia & Herzegovina Prediction: Saka Can Get On The Scoresheet
Southgate has a few selection quandaries to work out ahead of the Euros, one of which is who will start behind Harry Kane to complete England’s attack.
It’s a nice problem for Southgate to have, having to choose between a collection of in-form forwards and its likely we’ll see a few different combinations over the course of the two friendly games against Bosnia and Iceland.
That makes predicting England’s starting line-ups a little tricky, although we do know that Jude Bellingham, Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw won’t be involved.
The consensus seems to be we’ll see a slightly stronger side on Monday that could include Arsenal forward Bukayo Saka, who has enjoyed a bit of time off after sitting out the Gunners’ final league game of the season.
He scored 20 goals for the north London side across all competitions this season and bagged four times for England during qualifying for Euro 2024.
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He regularly had multiple shots on goal in those qualifiers, including four efforts in the final match of qualification against North Macedonia, and faces a pretty leaky Bosnia defence on Tyneside.
Bosnia have conceded 13 goals across their last four games, including a 5-0 drubbing at home to Portugal in one Euro qualifier. New boss Barbarez will want them to be more resolute, but stopping Saka is easier said than done.
The 22-year-old is a bigger price than both Cole Palmer and Jarrod Bowen to score anytime on betting apps, two players who may be on the bench if Southgate goes with his strongest available line-up.
Saka has gone four England appearances without a goal but with an average of just over one goal every three games in his international career, The Panel believe he’s due one against Bosnia.
The Panel Tip 1: Bukayo Saka To Score Anytime – 27/20 With Coral
Bookies Expect England Attack To Fire
There weren’t too many positives to be picked out from England’s performances in March, the exception being how vibrant their attack looked in the 2-2 draw against Belgium.
Southgate’s side created a wealth of opportunities that night, registering 19 attempts on goal, and betting sites make England odds-on to score at least three against Bosnia.
But rather than look at England’s total number of goals, The Panel have instead taken an interest in England to score in both halves at 7/10 with BoyleSports .
It’s a bet that’s come in pretty regularly for England in matches where they’ve scored more than once.
England has netted in both halves in six of their last 10 games, and with so many attackers eager to impress, there may not be much of a let-up when the raft of substitutions inevitably arrive.
The Panel Tip 2: England To Score In Both Halves – 7/10 With BoyleSports
Bosnia May Test England Defence
We can’t be sure what to expect from Bosnia under Barbarez, who is taking charge of a senior side for the first time in his coaching career.
He’s an icon in Bosnia, and as a former striker, he’s expected to be an attack-minded coach working with a team that has a few things it can build on going forward.
He can still call on veteran striker Edin Dzeko, who leads the line for a side that’s scored in each of its last three games.
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England have looked a bit vulnerable defensively in recent matches and while we won’t go as far as to say Bosnia will score in this game, the over appeals on the Dragons’ total shots line.
Bet365 go 11/10 they’ll have over 5.5 attempts at goal and in England’s last four friendlies they’ve allowed at least seven shots on goal.
Summer international friendlies are rarely a feast of attacking football, but registering at last six shots, on or off target, seems feasible for Bosnia.
The Panel Tip 3: Over 5.5 Bosnia & Herzegovina Shots – 11/10 With Bet365
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