With Portugal already through to Sunday’s Final after beating Switzerland, Netherlands meet England in the second semi-final of the inaugural UEFA Nations League at Estadio D. Afonso Henriques.
The winner of this tie will meet Portugal in Sunday evening’s Final at Porto’s Estadio do Dragao whilst the loser stays on to face Switzerland here earlier that day in the third-placed play-off.
Team news
Embed from Getty ImagesEngland has a full squad available although Liverpool’s Jordan Henderson is a slight doubt, having followed an individual training plan after participating in Saturday’s UEFA Champions League Final victory over Tottenham Hotspur.
Fellow Red, Virgil van Dijk however is set to start for Netherlands alongside Ajax’s Matthijs de Ligt.
Stat Attack
- England are unbeaten in three of last five meetings with Netherlands (W1, D2, L2), although those meetings were all friendlies but have recorded the exact same record from their five competitive meetings.
- Nine of England’s last starting lineup against the Netherlands in March 2018 feature in the squad, with the only exceptions being Kieran Trippier and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain the only absentees. n
- Netherlands have lost three of eight meetings against England in which they were deemed the home team across all competitions (W1, D4. L3).
- England are unbeaten in their last seven matches, only away against Croatia in a goalless draw last October, and have netted five times in each of their last two outings.
- From last five matches for both sides, Harry Kane and Raheem Sterling have both netted on four occasions whilst only Memphis Depay has produced that many goals for the Netherlands.
Prediction
With various players in both teams having faced long and exhausting seasons, the team sheets will definitely be key as to how this match could play out.
I am therefore predicting a scrappy game but given England’s form, I fancy them to edge this game if turn up and produce an inspired performance akin to that of their final group matches in this competition.
Prediction: Netherlands 1-2 England
Result: Netherlands 2-1 (AET) England