Ollie Watkins can shine for England against Bosnia-Herzegovina (Picture: Getty Images)
England will be determined to take goals to Newcastle as the countdown starts for their European Championship campaign in Germany.
The Three Lions face Bosnia-Herzegovina at St James’ Park on Monday night in one of two friendlies as Gareth Southgate settles on his final squad for this summer’s extravaganza.
They then entertain Iceland at Wembley on Friday with the emphasis on two comprehensive victories to send the side across the channel in the very best of spirits.
England, who face Serbia, Slovenia and Euro 2022 semi-final opponents Denmark in the group stages which start in a fortnight, were unbeaten in qualification but were less than convincing in their two friendlies in March – losing 1-0 to Brazil before a late Jude Bellingham strike salvaged a 2-2 draw with Belgium.
Those efforts must be improved upon and England’s build-up could also do with Manchester United making a swift decision about Erik Ten Hag’s future. Southgate’s name has been linked with the job – he’s the 8/1 third favourite with William Hill and Betfair – and the longer it takes the Old Trafford board to offer clarification, the greater the distraction for the Football Association and the Three Lions camp.
More Trending
Bosnia failed to qualify for the Euros after winning just three of their group matches, with two of those successes coming against Liechtenstein, they have lost their last four games and have not won an international friendly away from home in six years.
It’s the ideal opportunity for Southgate to run the rule over the fringe players battling to book their flights to Germany and that means a trio of Crystal Palace stars being given a start with Eberechi Eze, Adam Wharton and Marc Guehi trying to impress after finishing the season strongly with Eagles.
Eberechi Eze has the skills to make the Three Lions squad (Picture: CameraSport via Getty Images)
It will be interesting to see if Harry Kane starts as he is in need of playing time after missing the last couple of weeks of Bayern Munich’s Bundesliga season with a back injury.
But it may be that he is kept on the bench until Friday so Ollie Watkins can show what he can do in the spotlight and the Aston Villa striker is 3/1 with BoyleSports, Bet Victor, Sky Bet and William Hill to open scoring and 3/4 with Ladbrokes and Coral to hit the net at any time. Eze is 9/5 with Bet Victor to get on the scoresheet and a 4-0 romp is 9/1 with Paddy Power, Betfair and BoyleSports.
• Alexander Zverev, our ante-post selection, is 7/5 with BetUK and Unibet to make French Open progress by beating Holger Rune by over 5.5 games as the second week at Roland Garros gets underway. Aryna Sabalenka is in flying form and is 10/11 with bet365 to beat Emma Navarro in straight sets.
• Back Aiden Markram at 4/1 with Ladbrokes and Coral to be South Africa’s top batter when they face Sri Lanka in the first heavyweight battle of the T20 World Cup. Angelo Mathews is 9/1 with the same firms, Paddy Power and Betfair to be Sri Lanka’s top runscorer.
MORE : How Jude Bellingham went from boy wonder to Champions League winner
MORE : England captain Harry Kane receiving treatment for back injury in Euro 2024 scare