England U21 vs Romania U21 preview, team news, betting tips and prediction

England U21s have to beat Romania U21s in northern Italy this evening if they’re to keep alive their European Championship hopes.

The Young Lions were on course to securing a crucial victory in their Group C opener against France after Phil Foden scored a stunning opening goal. However, Leicester midfielder Hamza Choudhury was sent off with 20 minutes to go and France scored two late goals to seal a dramatic 2-1 win.

That defeat has left Aidy Boothroyd’s side needing to beat Romania this evening or face a hugely disappointing early exit from the tournament as only group winners and the best placed runners-up guaranteed to progress to the semi-finals.

Romania head into the game full of confidence after beating Croatia 4-1 at the Olimpico di Serravalle in San Marino last time out so the England players shouldn’t take this task too lightly or they’ll be heading home earlier than anticipated.

Team News

Choudhury will serve a suspension following his red card against France so Mason Mount could be recalled to the starting eleven this evening.

Everton’s Dominic Calvert-Lewin is expected to replace Dominic Solanke up front while the likes of Reiss Nelson and Tammy Abraham are also pushing for recalls.

It remains to be seen whether Aaron Wan-Bissaka will keep his place at right-back after he scored a late own goal to gift France the win earlier this week. Boothroyd claims talk of a move to Man Utd has distracted the Crystal Palace defender so he may decide to leave him out.

Expected England XI: Henderson, Wan-Bissaka, Tomori, Clarke-Salter, Dasilva, Maddison, Mount, Foden, Calvert-Lewin, Abraham, Gray

Betting odds & tips

Our free soccer tips have proven successful in the past so here are some predictions to help you with your betting selections for this game. England are the 6/10 favourites to win the match while Romania can be backed at 4/1 and the draw is 16/5.

The Three Lions should have enough to secure all three points in a 2-1 win – which is available at odds of 6/1 with the bookmakers. Calvert-Lewin enjoyed a solid season with Everton and he’ll be keen to impress so I like the look of him to score first at odds of 4/1.  If we combine Calvert-Lewin to score first in a 2-1 England win, we get very tempting odds of 8/1 – which seems like a decent bet.

Prediction

England will need to improve at the back if they’re to get a positive result but they have plenty of firepower to get the job done with the likes of Calvert-Lewin, Solanke, Gray, Sessegnon and Abraham providing goal threats. Romania shouldn’t be underestimated but we think England will just edge it 2-1 to keep alive their hopes of reaching the last four.