Euro 2020: Ukraine v England match preview – team news, lineups

Just when we get to think Euro 2020 is not going to get any better, the tournament surprises us with yet another brilliant and thrilling match between two great nations. With all the teams from the so-called “Group of Death” already out of the way, both England and Ukraine will have much higher spirits in the competition. England fans are already chanting “It’s coming home” as Shevchenko’s men have already created history by going past some of stronger sides in the tournament.

While Ukraine clutched a very late victory against Sweden in the Round of 16, England took their revenge against Germany with a decisive 2-0 victory. But now that the two countries are going to lock horns with each other in the quarterfinals, are they ready for such an intense match? How will they line up against each other? Read on as we provide you with all the necessary details. You can also check out our

for a brief overview of each and every game in Euro 2020.

Ukraine v England match preview

Before going through each team’s possible lineups, let’s have a look at their form and see how they have performed so far.

Ukraine

Some might believe that

have had it easy so far, with a relatively easy group stage draw and a rather balanced Round of 16 against Sweden. Even though they might have had some advantages along the road, Ukraine are a force to be reckoned with and can hurt even the best of the teams if the opportunity arises. We have already seen underdogs managing the impossible, with Switzerland beating

in the penalties after a 3-3 draw and Hungary drawing with both Germany and France in the group stages.

Shevchenko’s men lost two of their three games in the Group Stages, with one being against the Netherlands and the other being against Austria. They only managed to beat North Macedonia 2-1. But now that they have somehow reached the quarterfinals of Euro 2020, they might have additional and unseen tricks up their sleeves to deploy against England.

England

While

were believed to be the “nearly” team in the group stages, where they got two 1-0 wins and a goalless draw in three games, they proved to be more decisive than expected when they put two goals past Germany’s goal and defeat their archrivals in brilliant fashion. Even though Southgate was the man at fault during England’s defeat against Germany way back in Euro 96 semifinals, he more than earned his redemption as he led his men to a historic victory against Die Mannschaft.

We will have to wait and see if he manages to take his national team to the final itself. With the media hyping up England’s chances for winning the Euro 2020, the squad will have to be careful not to get too arrogant as it could prove to be detrimental to their performance against the underdogs, who are relatively weaker on paper.

Form analysis

Ukraine manager Andriy Shevchenko’s men faced a tough competitor in the Round of 16, where they went head to head against

. While Ukraine had not had much of a good run in the group stages and had lost to both of the group’s favorites, they managed to clutch a late victory against Sweden after a tough 120 minutes.

With a total of 15 shots, Ukraine did not have a decent accuracy as they only had 4 shots on target throughout the whole 120 minutes. With this in mind, they will have to work a lot more on their shooting accuracy prior to their clash against England since they might not get as many chances as before and might need to take advantage of the few chances they will get. Shevchenko could stick to his trusted men such as Oleksandr Zinchenko and Andriy Yarmolenko to lead the squad towards a fine performance.

Possible Ukraine lineup:

Bushchan; Karavaev, Illya Zabarnyi, Serhiy Kryvtsov, Matviyenko, Oleksandr Zinchenko; Sydorchuk, Stepanenko, Shaparenko; Andriy Yarmolenko, Roman Yaremchuk

They say that quality is better than quantity, and England showcased how that might be true with a brilliant and high-quality performance against Germany. With a relatively fewer shots in total in comparison with their previous games, the Three Lions had a total of 5 attempts throughout the match, with 4 of their attempts being on target. Raheem Sterling has been his nation’s hero by scoring three of England’s four goals in Euro 2020 so far.

Many heaped praises on England’s performance against Germany as 50% of their attempts was converted into goals. Gareth Southgate will surely want his team to continue their run with yet another decisive victory. He might have to once again rely on the likes of

and Bukayo Saka, who have played a pivotal role in England’s Euro 2020 success so far, even though Grealish only came on as a substitute during their clash against Germany. Of course Saka is doubtful to reach the quarterfinal clash as he has been sidelined with a knock.

Possible England lineup:

Jordan Pickford; Kyle Walker, John Stones, Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw; Jordan Henderson, Phillips; Bukayo Saka, Mason Mount, Raheem Sterling; Harry Kane

Ukraine v England: head-to-head in all competitions

The two nations have locked horns a total of 7 times, with 4 of them dating back to the 2010 and 2014 World Cup Qualifiers. Out of these 7 games, England have emerged victorious in 4 meetings, drawing twice and losing once against Ukraine.

Prediction

On paper, this is an easy one to predict, with England being the clear favorites and Ukraine being the clear underdogs. But what we have seen so far suggests that Ukraine might have a chance to go through to the next round as well.

Ukraine v England referees

German referee Felix Brych will be accompanied by his assistants Mark Borsch and Stefan Lupp to officiate the match. Marco Fritz will be acting as the main Video Assistant Referee, with Christian Dingert, Christian Gittelmann and Bastian Dankert as his assistants. Carlos del Cerro Grande will be the fourth official.

Viewing information

• Date:

  Saturday, 3 July

• Kick off time:

  21:00 CET

• Location:

  Stadio Olimpico, Rome, Italy

• TV:

  TRT1, BBC Sport

• Live Stream:  

  beIN Sports Connect, ESPN+

• Odds:

  England (-235), Draw (+350), Ukraine (+800)

READ MORE:

Follow 

 for the