UEFA Nations League A Championship Playoff-Netherlands VS Italy

 

 

Team News

Netherlands  

Matthijs de Ligt is also ruled out of the Nations League Finals after suffering a calf injury in training.

 

Italy

Alessandro Bastoni could miss out with flu.

 

Prediction

The UEFA Nations League Third Place Play-Off sees the Netherlands host Italy.

Netherlands were beaten by Croatia in extra time of the semi-finals. Donyell Malen opened the scoring in the 34th minute but two second half Croatia goals meant that Netherlands needed a 90+6 equaliser from Noa Lang to take the tie to extra time where they were downed by goals from Bruno Petkovic and Luka Modric.

Italy were beaten by Spain after going behind in the third minute, they fought back with Immobile equalising from the spot but a late Joselu goal sealed the Italian's fate.

These sides last met in the Nations League three years ago in a tie that ended in a 1-1 draw.

UEFA Nations League A Championship Playoff »Spain VS Italy

 

 

Team News

Spain

Robin Le Normand is set to make his first Spain appearance having switched allegiance from France to La Roja, and he should partner Aymeric Laporte at the back.

While he starred in the Champions League final at the weekend, Rodri is tipped to start here.

 

Italy

Champions League final playing quarter Federico Dimarco, Alessandro Bastoni, Francesco Acerbi and Nicolo Barella are all expected to start for the Azzurri on Thursday.

Despite his inexperience on the international stage, Mateo Retegui is set to lead the line for Italy once more.

 

Prediction

Spain will look to bounce back from an indifferent start to Euro 2024 qualifying that has seen them win one and lose one of their opening two matches. They topped Group 2 with 11 points from six games, though Luis Enrique was the man in charge for these six games.

Italy, like Spain, also topped their group with 11 points, pipping Hungary to top spot in the final round of fixtures. And like Spain, the Azzurri have won one and lost one of their opening two Euro 2024 qualification matches.

After such a long season, this game is unlikely to be played at a high tempo, so a draw may be on the cards.

 

UEFA European Championship Italy VS England

 

 

Italy and England go head to head in the Euro Qualification Round 1. The previous meeting ended with the following result. Italy 1 -- 0 England.

 

These 2 teams have met 16 times in the past several seasons ago based on my research analysis on both sides.

 

Out of 16 previous meetings, Italy have won 8 times while England won 2. 6 matches between them have ended in a draw. Italy is in sixth position on the FIFA world rankings table with 1726.14 point while England in fifth position on the FIFA world rankings table with 1728.47

 

Italy is in good home form with L2, W3 in 5 fixtures while England performance has been average at away from home with W3, L1, D1 in 5 fixtures.

 

From my research analysis on both sides, I predict Under 2.5

UEFA Nations League / Italy vs England

 

 

Analysis:

There is Nations League action happening on Friday as Italy will be taking on England.

 

Italy

Matches with Italy have usually been exciting affairs of late with high scoring being a real hallmark. Over their past 6 games alone, the sum total of 20 goals have been scored for both teams combined (at an average of 3.33 goals per game) with 8 of them belonging to Italy.

 

England

Gareth Southgate's England have seen their efforts on goal rewarded a total of 6 times throughout their previous 6 matches. The total of goals that have been scored against them during the equivalent period adds up to 7.

 

Verdict:

We’ve got the feeling that England and Italy could both end up scoring in what appears to be a good match-up, with little separating these two teams. A draw is a real possibility, as we are expecting there to be little between them. We’re therefore tipping a tight encounter with a score draw after 90 minutes.

 

Draw