Finland vs England Bet Builder Tips: 11/4 shot for Three Lions win

England’s performance against Greece on Thursday night was less than impressive. Lee Carsley named a team that most fans would have loved to see play at Euro 2024, including Cole Palmer, Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden, Anthony Gordon and Bukayo Saka, yet it just didn’t click. The Three Lions fell to a disappointing 2-1 defeat in the Nations League and Carsley suggested he would be returning to the U21s once these three international breaks were over. 

It leaves England in a sticky position in League B Group 2, as they now sit three points behind Greece, who have won three out of three so far. It means they have to go and win on Sunday when they travel to Helsinki to do battle with Finland (17:00, ITV1). Below you can find my Finland vs England Bet Builder Tips as we all look to get back to winning ways. 

I know England massively underperformed against Greece, but I think they will bounce back with an impressive showing against Finland. We must also understand the level of the opposition. Finland lost 2-1 at home to Ireland on Thursday night and sit bottom of the group with zero points to show for their efforts so far. 

They’ve not got the quality to compete with these elite teams, and Ireland - who were beaten 2-0 by both England and Greece - took all three points from Helsinki in midweek. Teemu Pukki is still going strong but it was Joel Pohjanpalo who opened the scoring against the Irish. Finland couldn’t hold on however, and I think England are going to enjoy a comfortable win.

They experimented with a packed midfield against Greece, but without a focal point, they lacked cutting edge. It just proves that all of the criticism that Gareth Southgate got for coming across too defensive, was perhaps a little harsh, given international football is a notoriously difficult mistress to manage. The former boss also used to beat the majority of smaller nations, something Carsley failed to do here. 

The way he communicates to the media also comes across as slightly naive. He claimed England had worked on the four narrow midfielders for “20 minutes in training” the day before - something you could never imagine an experienced head like Southgate admitting to. Things like that make the chance of him getting the permanent role slim, but also puts England in this slightly strange purgatory stage.

However, England still have some world class players who will come to the fore over the weekend. In particular, the lack of a striker will certainly be addressed and we can expect Harry Kane to come back into the XI and solve an awful lot of problems. Our bet builder begins with England to win to nil. 

Although they looked shaky at the back against Greece, with Jordan Pickford in particular all over the show, Finland just don’t have a lot to offer going forward. This should be a pretty routine win, and we would expect the hosts to lose their fourth Nations League match on the trot. 

To extend the odds, we have also included England to win by two goals or more. This should be a comfortable night as I’ve already discussed above, and I cannot see anything other than a two or three goal victory for the Three Lions. There of course will be a certain dose of negativity and concern that comes after any England defeat, but I really don’t think Finland will test Carsley’s side here. They met last month at Wembley in a game that ended 2-0, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a repeat scoreline in Helskinki. 

Backing Kane to score also feels sensible given he was clearly the missing link on Thursday night. Carsley will surely put him back into the XI after a few days off, and England’s record goalscorer will be desperate to get back amongst the goals having scored twice against the same opponent in September. This Bet Builder may be a steady one at 11/4, but I think it is well worth considering. 

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