England vs Croatia Preview

England will begin their European Championship campaign this Sunday when they take on Croatia at Wembley Stadium in London.

The Three Lions ranked fourth in FIFA standings are considered one of the tournament’s favourites and will hope to live up to that billing when they run out under the Wembley arch on Sunday.

Gareth Southgate’s side are heading into this game full of confidence and belief after winning their last six games and keeping five clean sheets in the same period.

However, a history of never winning their opening fixture in the European Championship finals means that the home team will hope to do what other teams could not do by taking all three points in their first game.

In direct contrast to their hosts, Croatia have never lost their opening fixture in a European Championship and are looking to continue that trend when they visit Wembley.

The 2018 World Cup finalists head into this tie ranked in 14th place in FIFA rankings and with a point to prove having never made it past the quarter-final stage in this competition.

Their form heading into this match is patchy at best, as they have won just three of their last ten games (D2, L5). In that period, they conceded 14 times and kept just two clean sheets.

However, they will fancy their chances against England who they won against in the 2018 World Cup in Russia. They will hope to pull off another famous win as they look to qualify from a difficult group that also has Scotland and Czech Republic. However, since beating Spain in November 2018 they have not beaten a side ranked inside the top ten making a win here an even tougher task.