Match Prediction for England Under 21 vs Italy Under 21 Tonight

June 5, 2013 Thatsbettingtips Staff

The European Under 21 tournament kicks-off tonight and England Under 21's get underway with a tough match against Italy Under 21 in their Group A opener.

Italy U21 are made slight favourites to win the match at 6/4 (Ladbrokes) the draw is 23/10 (Bet Victor) and England U21 are 11/5 with Bet365.

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England strolled through qualifying with a near faultless set of results and have carried that trend on with friendly victories, taking their run to nine wins from nine, with no goals conceded. Qualification was secured with two 1-0 wins against Serbia and Stuart Pearce’s men go to Israel with a realistic chance of going all the way.

With the likes of Wilfred Zaha, Jonjo Shelvey, Thomas Ince and Jordan Henderson in the squad England are promising much, but their flop at the 2011 tournament where they crashed out in the group stages will be in the back of their minds.

Italy are another of the market leaders in the outright betting and justifiably so. Despite being stunned by Ireland in a 4-2 defeat in qualifying, coupled with a 2-2 draw in the reverse fixture, Italy were dominant in qualifying, scoring two goals or more in every one of their ten group matches.

It’s Italy’s goalscoring prowess that could stifle England in the opening group match, but both sides will probably settle for a draw and given the strong defensive qualities of both, a 1-1 draw could be the final outcome.