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Preview: England vs Ukraine Preview – prediction, team news, line-ups

England will be aiming to register back-to-back wins in the Euro qualifiers as they lock horns with Ukraine at the Wembley Stadium on Sunday evening. 

The English team looked to be one of the favourites to lift the World Cup trophy in Qatar but ultimately saw their journey end in the quarter-finals, with France defeating them by a 2-1 scoreline. 

Gareth Southgate’s men returned to action on Thursday as they registered an impressive 2-1 success over Italy in Naples. 

The headlines of the game were dominated by Harry Kane who struck the winning goal at the Estadio Diego Armando Maradona to become the lions’ all-time record goalscorer.

Declan Rice provided an early breakthrough for England before Kane extended the scoreline from the penalty spot in the 44th minute. 

However, the Azzurri made a good comeback after the interval as Mateo Retegui halved the deficit with a brilliant finish after 56 minutes. 

The Three Lions suffered a huge blow when Luke Shaw was sent off for two yellow cards with ten minutes remaining in the game. However, the visitors hung on for an impressive win to take their revenge against the Italians who beat them in the Euro 2020 final. 

Meanwhile, Ukraine came close to qualifying for the 2022 World Cup after they sealed a 3-1 win over Scotland in their playoff semi-final. However, their dreams of qualification were shattered as they lost the final to Wales by a 1-0 margin. 

The Blue and Yellow were also not very impressive in their recent Nations League campaign, with the East European side winning three, drawing two and losing one of their League B Group 1 matches to finish second behind Scotland. 

Ukraine will now aim to make it to the European Championship but they face the highly difficult task of finishing above England or Italy in their group. 

How to Watch

England vs Ukraine is available to watch online via the live football streams

Team News 

Luke Shaw will not be available for England after the Manchester United star was sent off for two yellow cards in the previous game against Italy. While the inclusion of Jude Bellingham is also doubtful after the highly-rated midfielder limped off the field late on in the match. 

On the other hand, Ukraine also have a few injury woes of their own, with Ilya Zabarnyi and Oleksandr Zubkov both unavailable due to fitness issues. 

Oleksandr Zinchenko hasn’t had the best of luck with injuries this season, but the Ukrainian has been impressive at Arsenal and he should very likely start the upcoming match. While Chelsea’s Mykhailo Mudryk should also make it to the startling line-up. 

England potential line-up: Pickford; James, Stones, Maguire, Chilwell; Henderson, Phillips, Rice; Saka, Kane, Foden

Ukraine potential line-up: Lunin; Konoplya, Matvienko, Popov, Mykolenko; Malinovskyi, Stepanenko, Zinchenko; Tsygankov, Dovbyk, Mudryk

England vs Ukraine Prediction 

England boast some of the world-class players in their ranks, including Declan Rice and Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane. They were also impressive in Qatar, despite losing the quarter-finals to France. 

We are backing Gareth Southgate’s men to comfortably win the contest at Wembley Stadium. 

England 2-0 Ukraine 

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