Gareth Southgate England
Gareth Southgate England

England take on Scotland in the European Championship on Friday and this will their big chance to put one foot in the knockout stages.

The Three Lions won their opener 1-0 vs Croatia while Scotland suffered a 0-2 loss to the Czech Republic on Monday. And given how well England performed last Sunday, it’s no secret that Southgate’s side are going to be the favourites.

Some pundits think Scotland will try and throw the kitchen sink at their cross-border rivals since they will need all three points to ensure they stay alive in the competition. But according to pundit Chris Waddle, there’s only one way through which Steve Clarke’s side can pick up a win.

While predicting the outcome of the match, he told the BBC: “I don’t think Southgate will make any special plans for Scotland – I can’t see him changing the team from the win over Croatia to be honest.

“If certain people hadn’t performed, the likes of Kieran Trippier, Kalvin Phillips and Raheem Sterling, then we would be talking about Ben Chilwell, Jordan Henderson and Jack Grealish coming in.

“But I can’t see that at all now, or England changing their system. We didn’t see one bad performance against Croatia.

“It’s a big occasion every time we play Scotland because of the rivalry, but the England players have to forget that and focus on their tactics, and the way they play.

“We want to play good football and get at teams and, for all the good work Clarke has done, I think we saw against the Czech Republic that the Scots are vulnerable at the back.

“We have to respect them, sure, but we should beat them – especially at Wembley. If you go through their team and ask who would get in the England side then you could say Robertson at left-back. At a push, Scott McTominay would be in the squad – but that’s it.

 

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“That’s how superior England are. Individually the Scots are not bad players and I’m certainly not dismissing their threat as a team and what they are like as a unit.

“But we have got a much better squad and, if we play well and play the way we can, it won’t matter what Scotland try to do from set-pieces or on the counter-attack – we will break them down, and we will win the game.

“We[England] will have to play badly to lose, it’s as simple as that.”

England are unbeaten in their previous five international matches while Scotland have managed only two wins in the same number of games. But the last time these two sides met(2017), Scotland managed to hold the Three Lions to a 2-2 draw.

The Tartan Army will be hoping for a strong performance from their side on Friday but with the kind of talent that Southgate has in his squad, it’s really hard to predict anything other than a comfortable England win.

Read: Will this player be the game changer for Scotland against England?

Read: Scotland cannot make this selection blunder if they wish to win against England.

Read: Here’s what Scotland need to do if they wish to beat England on Friday.

Read: Gareth Southgate drops a key selection hint for the England vs Scotland game.

Read: Scotland’s predicted line-up vs England – EURO 2020.

Read: England’s predicted XI vs Scotland – EURO 2020.