Switzerland have never gone further than the quarter-final stage of a European Championship so they have a big opportunity to make history on Saturday night. Their opponent in the final eight comes in the form of England who, following the round of 16 results, stood as the joint tournament favourites.
Despite their short odds though, Gareth Southgate’s men have endured a very uninspiring campaign thus far. Seconds away from being dumped out of the competition by Slovakia in the last round, only a moment of Jude Bellingham magic spared them. Even with his special goal though, the Three Lions have only found the net four times in Germany.
A similar quality performance from England will surely see them eliminated. But can they up their game and put in the kind of display you would expect from such a star-studded squad?
England v Switzerland Team News
As poor as England’s attack has been this tournament, they have at least been solid at the back, conceding just two goals. Part of this is thanks to the assured performances of Marc Guehi but the Crystal Palace man misses this game through suspension. Southgate is likely to turn to Ezri Konsa or possibly Joe Gomez, in the absence of Guehi.
At left back, Luke Shaw is in contention for his first appearance of Euro 2024. Having recently recovered from injury, the Manchester United man appeared on the bench during the Slovakia victory. Although he should be fit enough to start here, reports indicate Southgate is considering playing with a back-three formation, which would not include Shaw.
Switzerland welcome back Mainz’s Silvan Widmer for this clash after his one-game suspension. Although the Nati fared well without him and carried a real threat down the right flank, the 46-capped Widmer is likely to reclaim his spot.
Other than this forced change against Italy, Murat Yakin has stuck with the same keeper, defence and midfield all tournament. There has been tinkering with the front three, however, so the England defence cannot be too sure who they will be up against.
Finally, Ndoye, Rodríguez, Freuler, Sierro and Xhaka need to be on their best behaviour as they will miss the next game should they collect a yellow card.
England v Switzerland Recent Head-to-Head Record
- 26rd Mar 2022 – England 2-1 Switzerland
- 9th Jun 2019 – Switzerland 0-0 England
- 11th Sep 2018 – England 1-0 Switzerland
- 8th Sep 2015 – England 2-0 Switzerland
- 8th Sep 2014 – Switzerland 0-2 England
England should take some confidence in their record against the Swiss. The Three Lions have not lost this fixture since 1981, an unbeaten streak that extends to 13 matches. Focussing solely on more recent encounters, Switzerland have lost their last five clashes with England, scoring just one goal in the process.
Despite England’s dominance in this fixture, they did have to fight from 2-0 down to salvage a draw the last time they met Switzerland at the Euros (2010). The Rossocrociati are a much better team now than they were back then too. They come into this fixture having lost just one game since the 2022 World Cup.
Betting Tips for England v Switzerland
England have the stronger team on paper but they have not clicked so far in the tournament. Frankly, it is hard to see what would trigger a drastic positive change. Switzerland, on the other hand, are such a well-oiled machine and enjoy such exceptional team chemistry. Given how rarely they lose matches under Yakin as well, we think they are well worth backing for a minor upset in Düsseldorf at odds of around 13/5.