WORLD CUP PREVIEW Sun: England v Senegal

Two good wins against Iran and Wales with a drab 0-0 sandwiched between was enough to send Gareth Southgate’s England through to the last 16 where they meet Senegal for the first time.

Senegal’s chances of reaching this phase weren’t looking bright after an opening defeat at the hands of the Netherlands but they won their next two games against Qatar and Ecuador.

It was that final win against a decent Ecuador side that proved Senegal cannot be taken lightly, although its also worth noting they have conceded goals in all three games so far.

France or Poland await the winners in the quarter finals. Straightforward then for England? No, it never is.

JB on the starsports.bet trading desk revealed that England are the second worst outright result for the firm which is hardly surprising given they have gone hard on Best Price England both pre and during the tournament. He said: “It was only a massive pre-tournament bet on the Netherlands (now 14/1) that stops England (now 17/2) being the worst result. They’d still be a winner though simply down to the size of the bet on the Netherlands.

“It’s always a catch-22 situation though with England. Despite the ante-post book we really want to see England in it for as long as possible as turnover goes up with patriotic punters getting involved.

“We’ll have extended pushes and specials on the match and 7pm on a Sunday is the perfect kick-off time.

“England are around 1/2 in the 90 minute market but that doesn’t mean much in this year’s World Cup and dare I even mention the ‘P’ word. I can’t imagine any England ante-post punters would be confident if there was a penalty shootout to decide this.”

England v Senegal
FIFA World Cup 2022 Last-16
7pm ITV1,STV,ITVX,STV Player

HEAD-TO-HEAD
First Meeting

ENGLAND
SEP 2022 NATIONS LEAGUE Italy 1-0 England
SEP 2022 NATIONS LEAGUE England 3-3 Germany
NOV 2022 WORLD CUP England 6-2 Iran
NOV 2022 WORLD CUP England 0-0 USA
NOV 2022 WORLD CUP Wales 0-3 England

SENEGAL
JUL 2022 COSAFA CUP Mozambique 1-1 Senegal
JUL 2022 AFRICAN NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP Liberia 0-3 Senegal
NOV 2022 WORLD CUP Senegal 0-2 Netherlands
NOV 2022 WORLD CUP Qatar 1-3 Senegal
NOV 2022 WORLD CUP Ecuador 1-2 Senegal

Southgate has the luxury of no fresh injuries at the time of writing and must decide whether he is going to shuffle the pack again. The changes he made for the Wales game were generally positive and it was great to see Rashford back to his best. Kyle Walker also impressed on his return from injury and it would come as no surprise to see him keep his place.

If you thought there weren’t many goals in the Group stages don’t expect things to change now – there might be even fewer as the stakes are raised and cagier encounters can be expected.

Sadio Mane’s absence through injury was a massive pre-tournament blow for Senegal and it might be a telling factor at this stage, coupled with the telling stat that England have never lost in their seven previous World Cup encounters against African opposition.

It’s not a game that appeals too much for strong bets. I like DRAW/DRAW at 17/4 with starsports.bet – apart from anything else it incorporates the dreaded 0-0 and I’ll also play ENGLAND/ENGLAND at 11/8 with starsports.bet in case England manage to raise their game and get off to a quicker start.

DAVID STEWART

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RECOMMENDED BETS

BACK DRAW/DRAW HT/FT 2pts at 17/4 (Latest Star Price ? CLICK TO BET NOW)
BACK ENGLAND/ENGLAND HT/FT 2pts at 11/8 (Latest Star Price ? CLICK TO BET NOW)

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PROFIT/LOSS (WORLD CUP 2022): LOSS 24.78 points (after matches on Sat 3 Dec, includes TWO GOOD bonus on CAMEROON v SERBIA 28 Nov)
(Will include returns from both the OUTRIGHT and SPECIALS previews too)

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