England v Belgium Preview

June 1st, 2012 by Paul

England prepare for their final friendly game on Saturday night before they head off to the Euros next week. The Three Lions will host Belgium and it’ll be a chance for Premier League fans to see Chelsea’s new signing, Eden Hazard, strut his stuff on the Wembley turf.

It’s hardly been an ideal week for newly appointed manager Roy Hodgson, as he agonised over losing influential midfielder Frank Lampard to a thigh injury. The Chelsea midfielder will now miss the Euros and Hodgson drafted in replacement Jordan Henderson from Liverpool as cover.

The news of Lampard’s absence comes hot on the heels of Gareth Barry also pulling out of the Euro 2012 squad due to a groin injury he suffered in the 1-0 away win against Norway last weekend. Everton stopper, Phil Jagielka comes in to fill Barry’s place in the squad.

There are also concerns over Scott Parker’s fitness ahead of tomorrow evening’ friendly with Belgium. Add to this Wayne Rooney’s two match suspension and you can see why Roy might be hitting the Alka-Seltzers all next week.

Belguim boss, Marc Wilmots, will be looking to spoil England’s farewell game to the fans before the Euros start. Belguim will start with a number of players who ply their trade in the Premier League : Vincent Kompany, Romelu Lukaku, Thomas Vermaelen, Simon Mignolet, Marouane Fellaini, Moussa Dembele and of course the soon-to-be-arriving Eden Hazard.

Andy Carroll will likely head England’s frontline against the Belgians. Prediction of a 2-1 hard fought win for England will get you a best price bet of 17/2 from BetVictor…

Look out for our full Euro 2012 analysis next week on FREEbets.org.uk