Harry Watkinson
Weekend Tips: home glory for England in Women's Euros?
The 2022 Women’s European Championships looks wide open with Spain currently outright favourites, though their price has drifted to 4/1 after their star player Alexia Putellas tore her anterior cruciate ligament in training.
The Banker
Putellas was named FIFA Best Women’s Player earlier this year and was the top scorer in the Champions League with 11 goals for Barcelona. Spain have some real quality in their squad but losing Putellas is a real blow this late in the day and they also have to negate a tough group containing Germany and Denmark.
That leaves the door wide open for England, who are tournament hosts and a team who look to be peaking at just the right time. The Lionesses have scored at least four goals in five of their last six contests in all competitions and have a young squad brimming with confidence.
Five years ago, coach Sarina Wiegman led the Netherlands to glory at Euro 2017 and she is now England boss, looking to land her second Euros in a row. They couldn’t have asked for a better draw either and it should be easy work in a section that contains Austria, Norway and Northern Ireland.
England’s possession-based football is impressive, with the likes of Beth Mead, Laura Hemp and Ellen White expected to shine on home soil this summer. They are unbeaten since September 2021 and it is all set up for success. The Wiegman appointment has looked inspired. She replaced Phil Neville and has won 12 of her 14 games in charge. Wiegman is very tactically astute, and England seem to have settled on a 4-2-3-1 formation.
It remains to be seen whether they can handle the big occasion – all of England’s group stage matches and the tournament final at Wembley will be played in front of sell-out crowds – but this youthful squad is also fearless.
Spain, France and Germany are seen as England’s biggest rivals, but Sweden are another side worth keeping an eye on. The inaugural Euro champions 38 years ago, it remains a mystery why Sweden haven’t won anything since 1984 given their quality and the amount of major tournament finals they have appeared in. The Swedes are in rare form, unbeaten in 22 matches under Peter Gerhardsson. At 7/1 their price looks appealing.
However, the stars seem to be aligning for England this summer and at 9/2 they look worth a bet to succeed on a ground where their male counterparts came up agonisingly short last summer and seal a first major tournament success.
Banker: England to win Euro 2022 at 9/2 (Betway)
Value Tip
The standout fixture from the opening round of group matches is clearly Saturday’s clash between Netherlands and Sweden at Bramall Lane. The winner of this match should go on to lock up Group C, and while the Dutch are defending champions the market preference is for Sweden here at 9/5.
They are going to have to keep Vivianna Miedema quiet, a prolific striker whose numbers are quite staggering. Miedema has scored 94 goals in 111 appearances for the Netherlands, while she has also hit 114 goals for Arsenal in 132 matches after joining them from Bayern Munich. However, the Dutch under Mark Parsons have been a bit inconsistent, dropping points in their World Cup qualifying campaign and being spanked 5-1 by England just last month.
In contrast, Sweden under Gerhardsson are hugely consistent. They’ve not lost a competitive match for over two years and are rock solid defensively. In fact, they have only shipped three goals in 11 matches since the Olympic final last August, with Chelsea’s Magda Eriksson the lynchpin at the back. Up front, Barcelona’s Fridolina Rolfo is the real deal, and Sweden look over-priced at 9/5 to get their campaign off to a flyer.
Value Bet: Sweden to beat the Netherlands at 9/5 (Betfair)
First Goal Flutter
As stated, Euro 2022 looks wide open as a betting heat – at the time of writing it is 9/2 the field – and the same can be said for the Top Goalscorer market.
Ellen White is the bookies’ favourite for the Golden Boot and will be popular given England have a fairly straightforward task in their group. However, the goals are often shared around the Lionesses and for this reason, France striker Marie-Antoinette Katoto could be worth a play at 8/1. The PSG star has pace to burn and has bagged an astonishing 108 goals in 113 appearances for PSG.
She has also scored 24 goals in 28 internationals for Les Bleus and should improve on that stat in a group that contains Belgium, Iceland and Italy. She won Player of the Year in the French top-flight last season and the 23-year-old is set to shine this summer and has solid claims to walk away with the Golden Boot.
First Goal Flutter: Marie-Antoinette Katoto to be Euro 2022 Top Goalscorer at 8/1 (Betway)
