England vs Costa Rica Predictions, Betting Tips and Preview

England vs Costa Rica prediction for their final warm-up match before jetting off to Russia for this summer’s showpiece event, the 2018 World Cup Finals. The game comes live to us from Elland Road at 8pm on ITV and here are our match predictions and free betting tips ahead of that clash.

Gareth Southgate picked up yet another win for his managerial reign as England saw off Nigeria in an entertaining 2-1 victory last week. The Three Lions played well in patches and looked good value for their 2-0 lead at half-time. However, Alex Iwobi’s early second-half strike certainly made England work for their win and also highlighted that no matter how comfortable you may seem, one goal can change anything. Nevertheless, that victory took England’s unbeaten run to nine games and they will be desperate to make that ten matches before they head to Russia next week.

Opponents, Costa Rica are also on World Cup countdown, but unlike England, aren’t in the best of form after dropping points in their final three competitive matches and losing three of their last five friendlies as well. However, the visitors have beaten both Scotland and Northern Ireland in the other two of those five friendlies which does suggest they might well be suited for playing against the home nations. In addition to this, their 3-0 win over Northern Ireland last week was only the third time in the last four years that Michael O’Neill’s side have been beaten by more than one goal.

BET NOW – 33/1 for a GOAL to be scored in England v Costa Rica.

 

England vs Costa Rica Predictions

If England’s last match was anything to go by, I would expect Gareth Southgate to make a few changes this Thursday as he bids to nail down his starting eleven ahead of the clash with Tunisia on June 18th. The England boss probably has a rough idea who he will line-up with in that match but there might well be a couple of places up for grabs with the likes of Jordan Henderson and Jamie Vardy both making a strong case to start the opening match of the World Cup.

From a one-off match perspective, though, the omens don’t really point towards much of a spectacle this Thursday. For those that don’t remember, the pair played out a 0-0 stinker during the group stage of England’s ill-fated World Cup campaign four years ago and both sides are averaging less than a goal a game for their last eight matches as well. If we also take into account that there are likely to be wholesale changes in the second half to disrupt the play further, a best price of 2/5 on an England win doesn’t exactly set the pulse racing!

Nonetheless, when we compare the strength and depth of both squads, England should probably have enough to see off their opponents. With that in mind, have a punt on England to win and under 2.5 goals at 9/4 with Ladbrokes for the first of our England vs Costa Rica predictions. Three of England’s last four victories have come via this outcome, so that does seem a decent price based on those statistics.

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Moving over to the goalscoring market for the next prediction and Harry Kane leads the way at the top of the odds tree once again. The Spurs striker has been in good form for his country of late and should also retain penalty kick duties for this match as well. Although there could be a few question marks over Kane starting, the fact that he’s the England captain means we should presume he’d be in the first eleven and be subbed later in the game as opposed to the other way around. That said, the second of our England vs Costa Rica predictions is for Kane to open the scoring at a industry best price of 13/5 with Bet365. I would always suggest backing a first scorer in friendlies as so many substitutions often curtail any value as an anytime scorer when some players barely play an hour.

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Finally for a dip into the half-time correct score market in today’s football betting tips, and sticking to the notion that this match could be a bit of a damp squib, having a pop on 0-0 as a correct score at the break might hold a some value in our England vs Costa Rica predictions considering four of England’s last six matches have followed in that trend. At a best price of 9/5 with Ladbrokes then, let’s have a stab at this game being goalless at half-time. Cue the seven-goal-thriller!

Read More: Tunisia vs England predictions for the opening World Cup Group G clash.

 

England vs Costa Rica Betting Tips

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