England welcome Ukraine to Wembley Stadium as Gareth Southgate’s Three Lions conclude their opening pair of UEFA Euro 2024 qualifiers.
Victory will see England stay top of Group C, whilst Ukraine could go top with a win before Italy play later in the evening.
Team News
Luke Shaw is suspended for England after he was red carded in their 2-1 win away to Italy with no replacement called up.
Defender, Reece James meanwhile has withdrawn from the squad with an unspecified injury.
Ukraine will be without goalkeeper, Dmytro Riznyk after he withdrew from the squad due to injury.
Illya Zabarnyi, Yukhym Konoplya and Oleksandr Zubkov are also ruled out through injury.
When is Kick-Off?
England host Ukraine at Wembley Stadium, London on Sunday 26 March at 5pm BST, with the match broadcast live on Channel 4 in UK.
Stat Attack
- England have lost just one of their eight previous meetings against Ukraine in all competitions (W5, D2, L1).
- Ukraine are winless in four previous away trips to England in all competitions (D1, L3).
- Kyle Walker is the only England player from their last meeting against Ukraine to still be involved in the squad, having been an unused substitute in a 1-1 draw in September 2012.
- England have avoided defeat in their last 13 Euro qualifiers played at home (W11, D2), of which their last home loss in an Euro qualifier came in a 3-2 defeat to Croatia in November 2007.
- Ukraine have lost two of their last five away matches in all competitions (W3, L2).
Prediction
Despite clinching a historic victory in Italy in midweek, England’s performance wasn’t exactly impressive yet I was impressed with their game management defensively, whilst still managing to clinically produce the goods up front despite a number of sloppy final touches.
Ukraine though will bring a different challenge because for their inconsistency on the road in 2022, they are still a dangerous team with players like Artem Dovbyk and Andriy Yarmolenko capable of causing serious issues within oppositional defence.
England though are favourites given their strong home form in Euro Qualifying since they missed out on UEFA Euro 2008, and I do expect them to come out and put themselves in firm control of the group if can tidy up their end product but Ukraine won’t make this easy.
Prediction: England 2-1 Ukraine