England kickstart their latest UEFA Nations League campaign with a trip to face old rivals the Republic of Ireland.
It will be the first examination of interim boss Lee Carsley following Gareth Southgate’s post-Euro 2024 resignation.
The new manager may be eyeing the job on a permanent basis and as such, he will hope to pick up a big win with a squad that certainly has a fresh look to it.
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Republic of Ireland vs England
Saturday, September 7, 5pm
Aviva Stadium, Dublin
Live on ITV1
Ireland vs England Preview
In case you were unaware, this match is in League B of the UEFA Nations League, which means neither of these two sides can actually go on and win the competition.
However, both will fancy their chances of gaining promotion to League A, having been drawn in a group alongside Finland and Greece.
England’s last outing was the Euro 2024 final, in which they lost 2-1 to a brilliant Spain outfit and continued many, many years of hurt.
It is going to be a much different team on Saturday to the one which started in Berlin, though, with a host of star names missing.
Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden, Luke Shaw, Cole Palmer and Kyle Walker are all not part of the squad for various reasons, while Ollie Watkins has also pulled out through injury.
It means we may see international debuts for Morgan Gibbs-White, Noni Madueke, Angel Gomes and Tino Livramento after the in-form quartet earned their first senior call ups.
And Harry Maguire and Jack Grealish are back in the fold, so expect them both to feature in Dublin.
As for Ireland, they will be hoping for a positive result under new manager Heimir Hallgrimsson, who is also a qualified dentist, after missing out on a spot at Euro 2024.
The Irish won only one of their previous six games and were beaten 3-0 by England when the pair collided in 2020.
But with a strong-looking squad featuring Premier League stars in Evan Ferguson, Sammie Szmodics, Nathan Collins and Chiedozie Ogbene, as well as the backing of a home crowd, Ireland will surely go into Saturday’s fixture with some degree of confidence.
In the 17 previous meeting between the two sides, Ireland have won only twice, although there have been nine draws, including six in a row between 1990 and 2015.
Ireland vs England Odds
*Odds are subject to change
Hosts Ireland are huge underdogs here at 6.90 and it is 4.10 for the draw, while England are priced at 1.49 to claim an away victory.
Unsurprisingly, Three Lions skipper Harry Kane is the favourite to open the scoring at 3.94 and he is 2.09 to score anytime in the match.
Ireland vs England Betting Tips
Ireland vs England: Both teams to score @ 2.24
With a new manager at the helm and a potentially new-look defence, we fancy England to concede in Dublin on Saturday. Ireland have strength in forward areas and are also a threat from set-pieces, so Jordan Pickford may be quite a busy man.
England to win and over 2.5 goals in the match @ 2.49
But while we expect Ireland to ripple the back of the net, it is hard to look past England claiming the victory in the end. As such, we fancy there to be at least three goals in the match and if you want even better odds with slightly more risk, the Three Lions to win and both teams to score is priced at 3.78.
Ireland Team News
Predicted XI (4-4-2): Kelleher, Coleman, O’Shea, Collins, Brady, Ogbene, Browne, Smallbone, O’Dowda, Szmodics, Ferguson
England Team News
Predicted XI (4-2-3-1): Pickford, Alexander-Arnold, Guehi, Maguire, Colwill, Rice, Mainoo, Saka, Eze, Gordon, Kane
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