European Championship Prediction Group E

2877

Group E of the upcoming European Championship contains Spain, Sweden, Poland, and Slovakia. There are two venues being used to stage the matches in this group, with games taking place at Saint Petersburg's Krestovsky Stadium and Seville's La Cartuja.

Spain are the host nation in Group E and will therefore play all of their fixtures in Seville and the matches featuring the other three nations will take place in Russia.

Spain qualified for the European Championship as comfortable Group F qualifying winners. They topped their group ahead of Sweden having won 8 of their 10 games and remaining undefeated throughout.

Only England and Belgium managed to score more goals than Spain during qualifying and the Spanish boasted one of the superior defensive records, having conceded only 5 goals.

They have made a somewhat sluggish start to 2022 World Cup qualifying as Spain were held to a 1-1 draw at home by Greece and narrowly defeated Georgia with a last minute goal.

Spain won the 2008 and 2012 European Championship but there was more quality in the team during those tournaments than there is now. Nonetheless, Spain have the best group of players in this group and are expected to finish top without too much difficulty.

Sweden have recent experience against Spain having been drawn in the same qualifying group. The Swedes were defeated 3-0 in Spain but will feel as though they should have recorded a victory at home, conceding an injury time equaliser.

Sweden are also in the same 2022 World Cup qualifying group as Spain and are currently one point behind them in second place, with a game in hand.

Sweden have a disappointing recent record in the European Championship and have failed to progress beyond the group stage in each of their last three attempts.

Poland will see this group as the perfect opportunity to progress to the knockout stages of the European Championship for only the second time in their history.

The Poles reached the quarter-final of the 2016 European Championship having finished second in a group containing Germany, Northern Ireland, and Ukraine. They defeated Switzerland via a penalty shootout in the Round of 16 before losing via the same method against Portugal in the quarter-final.

Poland have had a mixed start to their 2022 World Cup qualifying group and have been held by Hungary and defeated by England. In Robert Lewandowski, they have arguably the best striker in the world but will that be enough to see them progress?

Finally, we come to the group outsider in Slovakia. They qualified for the tournament via the Nations League playoffs and it is the second successive European Championship for the country.

They managed to reach the Round of 16 in 2016 but were comfortably defeated by Germany. Slovakia have made an undefeated start to their 2022 World Cup qualifying group, beating Russia but also dropping points in Cyprus and at home against Malta.

It would be a shock if Slovakia managed to finish above any of the other teams in this group.

Prediction:

1. Spain
2. Poland
3. Sweden
4. Slovakia