England generously priced to win Group D

June 13, 2012
By: Deke Hardman

According to the bookmakers, only Sweden have a worse chance of winning Group D than England.

The 1-1 draw in Donetsk on Monday meant that Ukraine’s 2-1 victory over the Swedes was enough to send the co-hosts to the top of the group.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic had given the Swedes the lead shortly after the break, but two goals in seven minutes from Ukraine’s all-time top scorer Andriy Shevchenko turned the game on its head.

Ukraine meet group favourites France in Friday’s early kick off, ahead of England’s match with Sweden.
If Oleh Blokhin’s men can reproduce the form that won them three points earlier in the week, they could well get something from France.

Les Bleus are unbeaten in twenty-two games, so of course they will be no push overs, but the offer of 3.30 (23/10) from Paddy Power for the draw shouldn’t be ignored.

Such a result would mean that three points for England would draw them level ahead of a potential group decider between them and the co-hosts on Tuesday.

England’s tournament record against Sweden is far from good. Their friendly victory at Wembley back in November was their first over the Swedes in 43 years.

However, Roy Hodgson’s men are clear favourites to pick up all three points in Kiev on Friday, with Bet Victor offering the best price of 2.20 (6/5).

If France do fail to beat Ukraine, England will have the extra incentive of knowing that two wins from their remaining two games would win them the group, regardless of what happens between France and Sweden on Tuesday.
With this in mind, you might be interested to know that a variety of bookmakers have a price of 3.75 (11/4) for Ukraine and England to qualify for the quarter finals, with Bodog offering 3.25 (9/4) for England to finish in first place.

118Bet are offering odds of 5.0 (4/1) that the tournament winner will be from Group D, with only a Group A winner having bigger odds.

The runners-up of Group D will are most likely to face Spain in the quarter finals, whilst the group winners will play the runners up in Group C, who are set to be either Italy or Croatia.

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