Italy v England Betting Tips [23 March 2023]
Football - Euro
23 March 2023 15:45
The match
England kicks off its Euro 2024 qualifying campaign by heading to the Southern-Italian city of Naples to take on Italy at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium. The Three Lions take to the field for the first time since their quarterfinals exit at the 2022 World Cup at the hands of eventual finalists France. Their first test in Group C of the eight match qualifying campaign is the defending champions Italy. England will be out for a modicum of revenge after losing the 2021 Euro final on home soil to the Azzurri on penalties. The other teams making up the qualifying group are Ukraine, North Macedonia and Malta which makes England and Italy the overwhelming favorites to secure qualification. There were positives to take from England’s World Cup campaign which helped to paper over the team’s abysmal showing in the recent Nations League tournament. Gareth Southgate’s men would fail to win a single match during that six match group stage phase, ultimately going on to finish bottom of the group and suffer relegation to League B in the next iteration of the competition.
Roberto Mancini will lead the Italians as they look to redeem themselves following a disastrous World Cup qualifying campaign. The Azzurri missed out on the festivities in Qatar 2022, failing to qualify for two consecutive World Cups for the first time in the nation’s history. Italy played in two friendly matches since capping off a very positive group stage of the UEFA Nations League, where they would go on to finish first ahead of Hungary, Germany and England. The hosts last outing resulted in a 2-0 away loss to Austria which was preceded by a 3-1 away win against Albania. Italy may well feel that they have the mental edge over their English opponents today as the Three Lions have not recorded a victory over the Italians in their last five meetings. You would have to go back 46 years to find the last time England beat Italy in a competitive fixture, coming in a 1977 World Cup qualifier.Key Statistics
- These two teams met recently in the Nations League. Italy held England to a 0-0 draw at Wembley and recorded a 1-0 victory at the San Siro in the return fixture.
- England has only recorded one win in its last 10 away matches (excluding neutral venue matches) against teams in the top 40 FIFA rankings.
- Italy has only lost twice in its last 12 home matches dating back to the 2021 European Championship.
- England has failed to find the net against Italy in their last two meetings while Italy has scored against England in six of their last seven encounters.
The bet of our experts
This is arguably the must-see matchup of the international break with these two proud footballing nations going head-to-head. Both managers will have to deal with injuries to some potentially key players but there is still more than enough quality on display to provide an entertaining spectacle. This is likely going to be a closely-contested match and a draw certainly isn’t out of the question as both managers would not be too upset should it play out that way. However, at better than even money we like the Italians to squeeze out a result enough of the time here with our stake being returned should the match end in a stalemate. Our Italy vs England prediction: Italy draw no bet
