England continue their preparations for 2022 FIFA World Cup as Gareth Southgate’s Three Lions host Ivory Coast at Wembley Stadium.
With no more friendlies ahead of the World Cup in November, this match represents a final chance for Gareth Southgate to experiment with his England squad ahead of upcoming UEFA Nations League fixtures across June and September.
Ivory Coast meanwhile have failed to qualify for the World Cup so will be taking this match seriously as they continue to prepare for future matches.
Team News
England manager, Southgate has no fresh injury concerns to report following Saturday’s win against Switzerland, with Fraser Forster and Nick Pope both chasing a start in goal.
Tyrone Mings, Harry Maguire and James Ward-Prowse will also be chasing starts after being named as unused substitutes on Saturday alongside Forster and Pope.
Ivory Coast also have no fresh injury concerns following their defeat in France on Friday evening, as Wilfried Singo, Hamed Traore and Christian Kouame all remain ruled out with injuries.
Stat Attack
- This is England’s first-ever meeting against Ivory Coast in all competitions.
- Ivory Coast are playing away against England for the very first time.
- Seven Ivory Coast players currently play for English based clubs (Eric Bailly, Willy Boly, Jean Michael Seri, Maxwel Cornet, Hassane Kamara, Nicholas Pepe and Wilfried Zaha).
- Lions
- Ivory Coast have kept just two clean sheets in five matches in 2022 across all competitions (W2, D2, L1).
Prediction
Although Saturday’s victory was hardly a vintage display with several first-half defensive sloppy moments on top of wasteful finishing, England did well to scrape a win but Conor Gallagher was a particular highlight with his attacking threat which helped improve the second-half performance.
I however do feel like further experimenting will take place here because this is Southgate’s last proper chance to assess his squad in an non-competitive environment, which should add extra desire amongst fringe players looking to prove that they deserve a place in Qatar.
Ivory Coast will be a difficult team to call because their defence this year hasn’t been particularly strong, yet they boost several players who know how to play against several England players especially in attack so I expect them to try and make this a tricky contest.
I however am going for an England win because I can’t see them repeating their defensive sloppiness here, especially if Mings and Maguire are in central defence whilst Ward-Prowse and Gallagher could be a surprise if they both start in midfield with Rice.
Prediction: England 2-1 Ivory Coast
Result: England 3-0 Ivory Coast
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