Lionesses to continue to roar
England Women performed superbly against France - ranked 3rd in the World - to reach the semi-finals and now face tournement hosts The Netherlands in what is sure to be a tremendous occassion.
The Dutch fans have been turning out in their numbers for every game their heroins have been involved in, so the atmosphere under the floodlights should be intense, but while the English must cope with that, they have both the experience and skill to soak it up and vindicate their new found status as tournament favourites.
Tournament form certainly favours the English. While both sides have scored four straight wins, England have scored 11 and conceded just once. The Dutch by contrast have netter just six, and also conceeded just once. England however have just toppled their long-term bogie team in beating France, while the Dutch progressed at the expense of the relatively easier Swedes.
Longer term records suggest a decent gulf in class as well, which probably backs up what we've seen over the last fortnight. England are 9-4-2 over the last three years against sides ranked 6th-18th (the Dutch are 12th) and a decent 4-1-1 when playing AWAY to such teams - an important factor given the home advantage in this one.
Holland are 4-5-11 against Top 10 sides over the same time frame, and just 1-1-4 on home turf. It's reasonable therefore to assume that England have a huge chance in this one, so it's surprising to see them available at 8/5. We landed all three bets in their victory over France, including a correct score bet, and we reckon a similar scoreline could be the order of the day in this one.
1pt England to win at 8/5
0.5pts England to win 1-0 at 6/1
0.5pts England to win 2-0 at 11/1