England vs Sweden Preview: Rashford & Rose To Be Recalled, Prediction & Betting Tips

England will take on Sweden for a place in the semi-finals of the World Cup in Samara, Russia, at 3pm on Saturday afternoon.

Gareth Southgate’s men overcame a dramatic penalty shoot-out for the first time in World Cup history to beat Colombia on Tuesday night after being held to a 1-1 draw during the 120 minutes.

The result may have been a slight disappointment but as Gary Neville said after the game, winning on penalties broke a psychological barrier and will probably do more for the England player’s confidence than if they’d have won 1-0 in normal time.

However, Sweden did superbly well to finish top of Group F ahead of Mexico, South Korea and defending champions Germany so they certainly shouldn’t be underestimated heading in to this match.

Janne Andersson’s men booked their place in the last-8 with a hard fought 1-0 win over Switzerland on Tuesday with Emil Forsberg’s deflected effort in the second half separating the two sides.

The winner of this quarter-final will face either Russia or Croatia in the last four so understandably England fans feel they have an excellent chance of making it all the way to the final.

Team News

Ashley Young is expected to shake off a knock that he picked up against Colombia but Southgate may be tempted to start Danny Rose in the left wing-back position as he gives the side more balance.

Jamie Vardy is a doubt after suffering a groin strain against Colombia while Marcus Rashford is pushing for a recall in attack as Dele Alli doesn’t seem 100% fit and Raheem Sterling has been largely disappointing so far this tournament.

As for Sweden, they’ll welcome Sebastian Larsson back in to the squad after he served his one-game suspension but Mickael Lustig misses out after collecting two bookings.

Possible line-ups

England: Pickford; Walker, Stones, Maguire; Trippier, Rose, Henderson, Lingard, Rashford; Sterling, Kane.

Sweden: Olsen; Krafth, Granqvist, Lindelof, Augustinsson; Larsson, Ekdal, Claesson, Forsberg; Berg, Toivonen.

Prediction

England 1-0 Sweden: Both previous World Cup meetings between the two teams have ended 1-1 [in 2002 and 2006] and I expect another tight game tomorrow. This should be a cagey game with neither side giving much away but I fancy England to edge it 1-0.

Betting tips

England are the 1.94 favourites to win in the 90 minutes and that’s a solid bet but I like the look of the game being goalless at half-time which is on offer at odds of 2.30. England to win with the exact scoreline of 1-0 is available at 5.2o which looks like a great bet to me.