Euro 2016: Day Two

Evening all,

the Euro's kick off properly tomorrow with three games lined up, including England's clash with Russia in Marseille. Russia will be missing two key players in Igor Denisov and Alan Dzagoev, both ruled out with injury before the tournament. Their team will most likely be built around a strong core of CSKA Moscow players with only Roman Neustader plying his trade outside of Russia. The concern for Leonid Slutsky will no doubt be his aging defence, with both Ignashevich and the Berezutski twins well into their thirties, up against England's in-form strikers in Harry Kane & Jamie Vardy. Having said that, the Russian's do have much stronger team going forward with the likes of Kokorin & Dzyuba keen to pick up where they left up for their club side Zenit.

England qualified for the tournament with a perfect record and Roy's boys will be keen to keep that streak of competitive victories going in the tournament. A lot will be made of where Wayne Rooney will be play and in my book, he should fit in behind two strikers in Vardy & Kane at the tip of a diamond. But I'm not the manager, so we'll see what happens. Like Russia, England's defence is not their strongest suit and all three centre backs are liable to make mistakes at times. Even more reason for me to play an attacking brand of football.

With Russia scoring 21 and England 31 in qualifying and both teams having a shaky defence, Both Teams to score at 5/4 should be a decent bet. Alternatively, you could take over 2.5 or England win and BTTS at decent prices

Earlier in Group B, Wales take on Slovakia in what could well be a key contest for both teams. A win here will probably see them in a good place to secure qualification and so both teams will be keen to make the most of a good start. The problem is though, it will have to rely on a moment of brilliance as neither team have a particularly impressive team. Wales will no doubt rely heavily on Garth Bale, while Slovakia will rely on their star Marek Hamsik. Both teams managed to beat top sides in qualifying (Belgium & Spain respectively), but I can see this being a low scoring game. Under 1.5 goals would probably be my bet here, available at 16/11 in places.

Finally, there is the second game in Group A where Switzerland take on Albania. This could well be a feisty clash with the Xhaka brothers meeting on opposite ends of the pitch. Albania have struggled to score in qualification and three of there goals were awarded as a mandatory result after the ugly scenes with a drone in Belgrade. In essence I don't think Albania are very good and the Swiss should win here. I can also see some cards being handed out here and a sending off is 3/1 in places which seems reasonable. Switzerland to win is best prices at 20/23 and again that seems a decent price.

Bets:
England v Russia
BTTS @ 5/4
England win & BTTS @ 21/5

Wales v Slovakia
Under 1.5 goals @ 16/11

Switzerland v Albania
Red Card to be shown @ 3/1
Switzerland win @ 20/23