4 Tips for Monday’s Euro 2020 & Copa America Action – 14/6/21

On Monday Spain take on Sweden in the late kick-off in Group E, which also consists of Poland and Slovakia, with Luis Enrique’s side coming into the Euros as one of the favourites to win the tournament. Spain are ranked 6th place in the FIFA World Rankings and won this competition most recently in 2008 and 2012, whilst Sweden are 18th on the table.

According to the Betting Hub App, there is a 61.5% chance of over 2.5 goals being scored in this match which is evident when looking at statistics, as these two sides combined average 3.1 goals per game.

Three of Spain’s last five matches have seen over 2.5 goals scored in them in 4-0, 3-1 and 2-1 wins against the likes of Georgia, Kosovo and Lithuania. They also showed in the Nations League back in November that they don’t take mercy against opposing sides, as they thumped Germany 6-0 in a game that saw Manchester City forward Ferran Torres bag a hattrick, whilst club teammate Rodri also scored, as well as Juventus striker Alvaro Morata and Real Sociedad’s Mikel Oyarzabal finding the back of the net in what was a memorable night for Spain.

Sweden have similar stats, as three of their last five games have landed in the over 2.5 goals market in 3-1 and 3-0 victories against both Armenia and Kosovo, as well as in a 4-2 defeat to France in November, despite taking an early lead through Viktor Claesson of Krasnodar in the Russian Premier League.

These two sides also met in June 2019 in the qualifiers for this tournament which resulted in a 3-0 win for Spain, as penalties from Sergio Ramos and Morata set the hosts on their way before Oyarzabal capped off a ruthless second-half display from the Spaniards.

The other match in Group E takes place at 5 pm on Monday, as Poland go head-to-head with Slovakia at Saint Petersburg Stadium in Russia, in a battle of 21st versus 36th in the FIFA World Rankings.

The Poles are inevitably favourites as they have arguably the most lethal striker in world football at present in Robert Lewandowski upfront off the back of scoring 41 goals in 29 Bundesliga matches, a league record. However, Inter Milan defender Milan Skriniar will be determined to mark the 32-year-old closely.

According to the Betting Hub App, there is a 70% chance of both teams scoring in this match due to each sides’ last five fixtures. Poland have won one of their last five which came in a 3-0 victory over Andorra, drawing 2-2 with Iceland, 1-1 with Russia, 3-3 with Hungary and losing 2-1 to England. Slovakia have won drawn four of their last five games, including in 2-2 and 1-1 draws with Malta and Bulgaria, and also recorded a 2-1 victory against Russia in late March, thanks to goals from Skriniar and Robert Mak.

Monday will see Scotland play the Czech Republic at Hampden Park in Group D in what will be the Scots first European Championship finals match since 1996.

This game is a battle of 44th against 40th in the FIFA World Rankings, so there will likely be little to separate the two sides, although Steve Clarke’s side do boast talents such as Andrew Robertson, Kieran Tierney and Scott McTominay, whilst the Czechs have West Ham duo Tomas Soucek and Vladimír Coufal in their ranks.

The Betting Hup App has calculated that there is a 60% chance of the over 2.5 goals market landing in this match, with both of these sides averaging a combined 3.4 goals per game in their last five matches.

Three of Scotland’s last five matches have yielded over 2.5 goals in two 2-2 draws against Austria and the Netherlands, as well as in a 4-0 hammering of the Faroe Islands where a brace by Aston Villa’s John McGinn and strikes from Che Adams and Ryan Fraser settled the outcome.

The same goes for the Czech Republic who have also had three games from their last five fixtures see over 2,5 goals scored in them, in comfortable 6-2 and 3-1 victories against Estonia and Albania, of which Soucek managed a hat-trick in the initial match, and they were recently hammered 4-0 away at Italy prior to their win at home to Albania.

When these two sides met last September in Prague, Clarke’s side ran out as 2-1 winners as goals from Lyndon Dykes and Ryan Christie cancelled out Jakub Pesek’s 11th-minute striker for the hosts.

Argentina take on Chile in the opening game of Group A at the Copa America on Monday. Last time out at the Copa America, this was a third-place play-off which resulted in a feisty affair, which saw both Lionel Messi and Gary Medel sent off just before half-time, nevertheless, Argentina edged out the game 2-1 thanks to first-half strikes by Sergio Aguero and Paulo Dybala.

Lionel Scaloni’s side have won four of their last eight matches in all competitions, with four of these being by the score range of 1-0, 2-0 or 2-1, beating Brazil 1-0 via a Lionel Messi goal, as well as earning 1-0, 2-1 and 2-0 wins against Ecuador, Bolivia and Peru.

Argentina’s last two matches have resulted in 1-1 and 2-2 draws against Chile and Colombia, where Alexis Sanchez scored with Chile’s only shot on target, whilst Colombia came back from 2-0 down, scoring a 94th-minute equaliser through Miguel Borja.

Chile come into this game having won just two games since the start of 2020, which came in 2-1 and 2-0 wins against Bolivia and Peru, with their last defeat coming in November’s internationals against Venezuela as Salomon Rondon scored an 81st-minute winner for the hosts who came out as 2-1 victors in the World Cup qualifier.