England vs Bosnia and Herzegovina tips and predictions: Three Lions make light work of new-look visitors
England's Declan Rice
Planet Sport expects England to record a routine victory when they welcome Bosnia-Herzegovina to St James’ Park on Monday (1945 BST)
England have hand-picked two weak opponents to find their rhythm for Euro 2024, starting with Bosnia and Herzegovina at St James’ Park on Monday.
This is exactly the sort of opponent the Three Lions typically cruise past with a win to nil while giving most of the squad a few minutes.
Bosnia’s Nations League performance allowed them a second chance at making it to Germany, but they were just as bad as in qualifying.
Despite being second best, they led Ukraine 1-0 with five minutes remaining, putting them minutes away from a winnable final against Iceland. Then they collapsed.
That prompted a change of coach for Monday’s visitors as they look to overhaul. Sergej Barbarez has called up a plethora of new talent for the match.
While that means plenty of effort from the visitors, they’ll likely be even more disjointed than usual, and England will be able to pick a number.
That said, warm-up friendlies can fail to deliver fireworks. While the opportunity to run up the score is there, Gareth Southgate will want his side to mimic their tournament style.
We also have to accept England won’t be at their strongest, with Harry Kane nursing a back injury and Jude Bellingham featuring in the Champions League final on Saturday.
Ollie Watkins and Connor Gallagher will start in their place, but we may also get a glimpse of Eberechi Eze and Adam Wharton as they aim to impress before the squad is trimmed.
There’s too much quality on the pitch for Bosnia to be competitive, yet there’s enough to suggest they can compete early on and keep the score down.
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Team news
Bellingham, Kane and Luke Shaw are among those expected to miss out, while those who featured in last weekend’s FA Cup final may also start on the bench.
Bosnia will be led by a familiar face in Edin Dzeko, but several players will receive their first full cap on Monday night.
Key stats
- England and Bosnia have never met at senior level
- England have won 13 straight home friendlies against teams outside of FIFA’s top 10
- England have played three matches at St James’ Park since 2000, beating Albania, Azerbaijan and Ukraine to nil
- Bosnia’s most recent away defeat was a 4-1 thrashing against Luxembourg
- Bosnia have lost eight of their last 10 matches
