Malta-England is a match from the third day of Euro 2024 qualifying group C and is played on Friday at 20:45: TV, likely formations, predictions.
England are one of the big players in this Friday’s almost entirely Euro 2024 qualifying fixture. The Three Lions national team are on full points in Italy’s group and in the first two days in March they have already beaten the most insidious opponents: Ukraine and the Azzurri, beaten 2-1 in Naples.
The road to first place in Group C is therefore now paved. And while Roberto Mancini’s national team grapple with the Nations League Final Four, Gareth Southgate’s men can stretch their lead even further, already creating an abysmal gap between first and second place. In the two June matches, in fact, England face in quick succession the least competitive selections in the group, Malta and North Macedonia: if, as is likely, two victories should come, qualification would become a mere formality. There will be no surprises in the match against the Maltese, coached by the Italian Michele Marcolini, former Chievo midfielder. Together with Ukraine – who have played one match less – Malta are the only ones still with zero points, but against North Macedonia and Italy they have suffered two honourable defeats, conceding no more than two goals.
An experimental England
The small representative team coached by Marcolini also played a friendly match a week ago: they beat Luxembourg 1-0, who are 81 places ahead of them in the rankings.
Maltese players
There are five previous matches against the English: no wins or draws of course for Malta, who managed to score the only goal against England in a friendly played in 2000. Marcolini must do without one of his most talented elements, certainly the one with the most international experience: he is Teuma, protagonist in the last edition of the Europa League with Belgium’s Union St.-Gilloise. The line-up that Southgate will send on the field will instead be experimental: it is unlikely that Manchester City’s players, back from the Champions League final, will start from the 1′, while Bellingham, Dunk, Mount, Sterling, Chilwell and James are absent. Guéhi could start in defence.
The Prediction
Despite the absence of many starters, England should be able to pull off a wide win against Malta, in a match with more than three goals in total. The Maltese are unlikely to score at least one goal against a defence that conceded just one goal in the games against Italy and Ukraine and appeared very solid. Kane has ticked the box on both occasions and should repeat himself on the Mediterranean island.
The Malta v England line-up probables
- MALTA (3-5-2): Bonello; Muscat, Apap, Borg; Mbong, Grech, Guillaumier, Yankam, Camenzuli; Jones, Nwoko.
- INGHILTERRA (4-3-3): Pickford; Trippier, Guéhi, Maguire, Shaw; Gallagher, Rice, Henderson; Saka, Kane, Rashford.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 0-4
