England Under-21’s are in UEFA Euro 2013 Group 8 qualifying action on Thursday night (England 2/13, draw 5/1, Iceland 11/1 – Match Betting), as they look to continue their 100% record against Iceland at Weston Homes Community Stadium.
Stuart Pearce’s side recorded a 3-0 win in Reykjavik a month ago thanks to a hat-trick from Arsenal star Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who is set to be named in the starting XI again, as he looks to prove he is worthy of the £12 million Arsene Wenger spent on him.
The England Under-21 boss sees a similar situation with Oxlade-Chamberlain (9/2 First Goalscorer) that was experienced by his Arsenal team-mate Theo Walcott, and believes the 18-year-old can get “better and better” and will improve from every 90 minutes he can get under his belt.
Pearce has been forced to make a number of changes to his squad due to injury and that means six of the 24 faces in the squad are part of the Under-21 set-up for the first time.
Ryan Bennett from Peterborough, Newcastle United forward Sammy Ameobi and Manchester United’s Will Keane were called up on Monday, but Bennett reported with an injury and was sent home while Fulham full-back Matthew Briggs also missed out through injury.
The boss’ plans were further disrupted by the fact Liverpool’s Jon Flanagan and Everton’s Ross Barkley left the camp to join up with Noel Blake’s England Under-19 squad for their game with Denmark, also on Thursday night.
Both those two will be unavailable to face Iceland but will be ready for the trip to face Belgium on Monday night, where Pearce will be looking for another impressive display to boost their progression towards Israel 2013.
Nathan Delfouneso (7/2 First Goalscorer) has enjoyed a mixed time against Iceland so far in 2011, as he scored in Preston against them back in March before being taken off in Reykjavik last month with a hamstring injury.
The Aston Villa man is by far the most experienced forward available to Pearce, so will lead the line with Ameobi, Keane and Marvin Sordell of Watford all fighting to join him.
There is a lack of real Premier League experience throughout the squad and the likes of Jordan Henderson, Josh McEachran and Martin Kelly will have to shoulder a lot of the responsibility.
As for Iceland, they have won one game so far in Euro 2013 qualifying and that was thanks to two goals from Lillestrom striker Björn Sigurdarson, to see of Belgium in September. They are the only two goals they have scored in three games and Iceland should not pose too much threat to England.
Despite the limited experience, there remains a lot of exciting young potential throughout the team and they should have enough to beat Iceland with ease, to set them up for the trip to face Belgium in their final game of 2011.
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