England v Slovakia Betting Tips [30 June 2024]

Five points from the group stage were enough for England getting to the knockouts, but that came with a lot of criticism. The pressure will be more when they get to face Slovakia in the round of 16 this Sunday. The Three Lions managed just two goals at the group stage but will be happy to have finished undefeated. Here they come with just two wins in their last eight matches and a lot of pressure from their subpar performances in recent times. While they are blessed with some of the best attacking players around, England have failed to find their footing in attack in recent months. In three of their last seven matches, they failed to score, and in the last eight matches, they scored more than once in only two games. Gareth Southgate’s side will however be favored by a stronger head-to-head record coming into this game. They’ve never lost to Slovakia in their earlier six meetings, winning five.

The last time Slovakia took on England was in 2017, during the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, and lost both legs. The only time they avoided defeat in this fixture was at Euro 2016. Eight years later, they face off again, coming here after finishing third in their group. Slovakia were regarded as pre-tournament underdogs, but here they have the chance to shock pre-tournament favorites. Having already beaten Belgium in this tournament, Slovakia will not be scared by England’s profile. The one strength Slovakia will draw from their opening three matches, is that they scored in all. Ivan Schranz has been their dangerman, scoring twice in the group stages and carrying a constant threat in their matches. In their last 16 matches, Slovakia failed to score in just two games. With this run, Slovakia should only be working on bettering their defence, after conceding three times in the group stages.

Ordinarily, England would be coming into this game as clear favorites. However, they had a limp run at the group stages, enough to give Slovakia confidence they can turn tables here. It is clear though, that both sides aren’t at their best in attack, and as a result have had low-scoring runs. Neither of these teams scored more than once in the group stages. As such our prediction for England v Slovakia is for the game to produce under 2.5 goals.