England vs Bosnia & Herzegovina: Preview, Prediction & Betting Tips

Preparations for the upcoming European Championships are set to get underway as England welcome Bosnia & Herzegovina to St. James’s Park for the first of two friendlies before the tournament begins.

Date: 03/06/24

Kick-off time: 19:45

Venue: St. James’ Park

After naming a 33-man provisional squad last week, this will be the first opportunity for Gareth Southgate to get a good look at a host of different players ahead of the Euros. Alongside the regulars, he has called up some youngsters for the first time to assess before he finalises the 26-man squad on June 8th. Marcus Rashford, Reece James, Ben Chilwell and Jordan Henderson were all left out despite being prominent figures in previous squads. Crystal Palace pair Eberechi Eze and Adam Wharton are involved and hoping to get some game time, whilst Liverpool duo Jarell Quansah and Curtis Jones have also earnt first time call ups.

A number of attackers have enjoyed fantastic campaigns. Unsurprisingly, Harry Kane excelled in his debut season in the Bundesliga, scoring 44 goals in all competitions for Bayern Munich. Chelsea midfielder Cole Palmer had 37 goal involvements, and should be confident in playing a crucial role, whether that be from the start or the bench.

Goals should be a feature in this game, especially with the experimenting Southgate may do. England have kept just one clean sheet in their last five, and the uncertainty in defence, especially at left back, could be a concern. However, they have also scored eight goals in this time. Their opponents Bosnia have been involved in high-scoring games, with 18 goals combined for and against in their last five.

This will be the first meeting between England and Bosnia. The Three Lions will be looking to snap a three-game winless streak in which they drew twice against North Macedonia and Belgium and lost at home to Brazil at Wembley. Bosnia, in contrast, have lost four games in a row, with them missing out on Euros qualification in their latest defeat to Ukraine. England in particular will be hopeful of picking up a win to give them some much needed confidence and momentum heading into the summer tournament.

England

Marcus Rashford, Reece James and Ben Chilwell headline the big names left out of the provisional squad for the Euros. Jude Bellingham will be absent due to his involvement in the Champions League final for Real Madrid. Eberechi Eze, Adam Wharton and Curtis Jones are among those hoping to impress. Luke Shaw is unlikely to be fit.

Bosnia & Herzegovina

Sead Kolasinac will miss out due to Atalanta having a Serie A fixture at the weekend, as well as suffering from a muscle injury. Veteran striker Edin Dzeko will look to play an important role.

England

In their last five games, England have won two, drawn two and lost one. As preparations begin for the upcoming Euros, it has been an inconsistent stretch for the Three Lions as they are winless in three games. The run started with consecutive wins, however, the first of which being a 3-1 victory over Italy. Gianluca Scamacca opened the scoring after just 15 minutes, but Harry Kane equalised from the penalty spot past the half hour mark. Marcus Rashford put the hosts in front, before Kane added a third to seal the win.

It was two wins in a row, with a 2-0 victory against Malta. They took an early lead through an own goal from Enrico Pepe. England dominated possession throughout, restricting their opponents to no shots on target and 25% of the ball, but only managed three on target themselves. They finally took advantage of their superiority with another goal thanks to Kane. This preceded a 1-1 draw against North Macedonia in their final Euros Qualifying game. Their opponents took the lead through Enis Bardhi shortly before half-time, but conceded the equaliser as Jani Atanasov converted into his own net 15 minutes into the second period.

They faced Brazil in a friendly during the latest international break, in which they lost 1-0. Youngster Endrick scored his first goal for his nation in the 80th minute at Wembley to condemn England to defeat. Their most recent game was a 2-2 draw against Belgium. Youri Tielemans scored a brace for the visitors, either side of an Ivan Toney penalty. They salvaged a draw very late on as Jude Bellingham netted an equaliser in the 95th minute.

Bosnia & Herzegovina

In their last five games, Bosnia & Herzegovina have won one and lost four. It has been a very rough stretch for the Bosnians, with the only win of this run coming in the very first game. It was a 2-0 victory away at Liechtenstein in matchday seven of the Euro Qualifiers. Both of their goals came before half-time, with Amar Rahmanovic and Miroslav Stevanovic getting on the scoresheet.

They were unable to carry this winning momentum forward into their next game as they were crushed 5-0 at home to Portugal. They were dominated in possession and managed no shots on target as they lost heavily. Cristiano Ronaldo opened the scoring from the penalty spot after just five minutes, before he doubled the lead 15 minutes later. Bruno Fernandes, Joao Cancelo and Joao Felix added three more before the break to complete the scoring. Another heavy defeat followed, this time 4-1 away at Luxembourg. The hosts took a sixth minute lead, with another three unanswered to put them four up. Renato Gojkovic pulled one back in stoppage time with what was nothing but a consolation.

The final qualification game was a 2-1 loss at home to Slovakia. An own goal put Bosnia in front, but this was cancelled out just three minutes later. Gojkovic saw red to put his team at a major disadvantage, and Slovakia took advantage of this with a 71st minute winner. These results meant they finished fifth in their group, but could still qualify for the Euros via the playoffs. However, they lost the first playoff game to Ukraine and were therefore eliminated. They took the lead, but two late goals turned it around and condemned them to a heartbreaking loss.

Preparations for the European Championships are ramping up for Gareth Southgate and his team, and they will be expecting a win to give them some much needed momentum heading into the tournament. We back them to do so comfortably – England 3-0 Bosnia & Herzegovina

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England vs Bosnia & Herzegovina will be available to watch on Channel 4.

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