Thomas Hill’s selections for the England’s second Euro 2024 warm-up match include a high-scoring win for the Three Lions with an Arsenal player on the scoresheet.
Just the name Iceland sends shivers down the spines of most England fans but there should be no ghosts from Euro 2016 in evidence at Wembley on Friday night.
It’s the Three Lions final warm-up game before they fly off to Germany for the European Championship finals, and Gareth Southgate will want to see an improvement from Monday’s 3-0 win over Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Expect Southgate to send out a far stronger team just nine days before their tournament opener against Serbia, and expect another routine triumph for the competition favourites.
Selections
England win & Over 3.5 goals
11/10
Declan Rice to score anytime
17/4
Goal scored between 76-90
8/11
Lions can roar in Wembley send-off
Gareth Southgate’s England can put on a show in their final friendly before this summer’s European Championship finals.
If Monday’s 3-0 win over Bosnia was flawed, then Friday’s showdown with Iceland offers the chance for wholesale improvement with a much stronger Three Lions determined to wave farewell on a high – and a free-scoring high at that.
Record goalscorer Harry Kane is expected to get more minutes into him, while Phil Foden and Kobbie Mainoo, absentees against Bosnia, can also expect to be involved. Jude Bellingham is the one player who is definitely a non-runner, but Declan Rice will presumably start.
And Iceland should be there for the taking. The nation who famously beat Roy Hodgson’s England at Euro 2016, where they reached the quarter-finals, are a pale shadow of that group with seasoned veterans like Gylfi Sigurdsson, Aron Gunnarsson, Birkir Bjarnason, Alfred Finnbogason and others gone.
And their undoubted star player, Genoa’s Albert Gudmundsson, their hat-trick hero in March’s 4-1 play-off romp past Iceland, is not in the squad.
Iceland, beaten 2-1 by Ukraine in their play-off final, finished fourth in their qualifying group, having lost to the likes of Bosnia and Luxembourg. If England are on it they can beat Age Hareide’s men easily and land the England win & Over 3.5 goals double at 11/10.
Rice to revel in capital farewell
If there is one thing Southgate learned this season about Declan Rice that he didn’t already know, it’s that the Arsenal midfielder has got a goal or three in him.
Rice has been sensational, anchoring Arsenal’s midfield in his first season since switching from West Ham.
But the England ace has also needed no second invitation to wander forward and offer a threat around the edge of the box with seven goals, his best-ever tally.
He has also scored three times for England in 50 appearances, the first interestingly against Iceland in a Nations League tie four years ago. His third goal was against Italy in the recent Euro 2024 qualifying campaign.
Rice is a towering figure for England going forward and no longer just doing the dirty side of the game. He’s 17/4 to find the net at any time against Iceland, and that seems to merit an investment.
Expect a late show from Southgate’s aces
England have played three international matches in 2024, and all three have produced late goals.
Back their showdown with Iceland to make it four out of four.
Endrick scored an 80th minute winner in Brazil’s 1-0 win at Wembley in March, Bellingham was on target in injury time in the 2-2 draw with Belgium three days later and both Trent Alexander-Arnold and Harry Kane netted against Bosnia in the dying moments on Monday.
