Football Tips: Your 51/1 England v Nigeria World Cup Bet Builder

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England to WinOver 2.5 GoalsEngland to be Ahead at Half-TimeLauren James to ScoreLucy Bronze to Be Booked

A Bet Builder with these selections pays at approximately 51/1 with Paddy Power. CLICK HERE TO ADD TO YOUR BETSLIP.

Monday 8:30am: England v NigeriaFIFA Women’s World Cup Last 16TV: BBC One, BBC iPlayer and BBC Sport Website

I have a couple of fears in my life. One of them is snakes and I’ll never get over that. I’ve tried everything, including watching Crocodile Dundee six times in a row to try and add a funny accent every time I see a boa constrictor but alas, it has not worked.

But that irrationality pales in comparison to the fear I possess of England winning a major tournament. I’ve already gotten a taste of it through their U21s, and then the Women winning the Euros last summer.

But I’m able to consolidate that in my head by saying it wasn’t senior in the first instance, and that the Lionesses were at home this time last year, so it didn’t count. Unfortunately, I’m going to have to make quite a few quid to get over the probability of them landing this prize.

Well, there’s no question here. Nigeria are a bloody nightmare to play against when you lose the ball, but luckily for England, they haven’t lost the ball since the winter of 1997.

I’m coming around to the idea that they’re the best team in the competition, and even though Keira Walsh ticking them over was a key element of why they don’t shift stupid goals, they’ve more than enough in midfield to triangle their way past Christy Ucheibe and Halimatu Ayinde. I fancy England to Win this.

As we’ve seen so far, teams are going for it – not just because it’s the knockouts, but because this, for a lot of them, is the biggest stage they’ll ever play on. This tournament was under-appreciated across both media and governing bodies, resulting in an embarrassing rights dispute – but the entertainment value, particularly across the two knockout games so far at time of writing, speaks to the fact that these athletes feel a responsibility to publicise their abilities as best they can. Let’s have some more entertainment and Over 2.5 Goals.

This unit do their work early so they’re not getting sucked into a tactical affair thereafter. What England do better than any other team on earth is tempo, and it generally produces goals early on.

Taking their three group games, they were ahead on the half-four mark against Haiti, in front after six minutes when lining out against Denmark, and were three goals to the good by the half-time whistle against China.

Sarina’s instruction is very transparent. She wants England to Be Winning at Half Time.

England have shown two gears in this tournament so far – the mid-paced, unambitious grind that comes without Lauren James, and the relentless attacking threat of when she’s on the ball.

She’s so hard to stand-up because she can as easily go outside and swing, or inside and hit – with both of them producing above-average results on a regular basis.

She’s been the spark and is probably on the podium for Player of the Tournament so far alongside Amanda Ilestedt and Aitana Bonmati. We’ll back James To Score Anytime again.

The only hope that Nigeria have is that Lucy Bronze gets too ambitious and goes marching on the overlap because Uchenna Kanu is their x-factor. She’s lightning quick and gets fouled more times than the cue ball down my local snooker club.

Lucy has a real problem on her hands, and may well commit an early foul to leave a mark – such has been, oddly, the Barcelona way thus far in this tournament. Bronze To Be Booked rounds us off.

England to WinOver 2.5 GoalsEngland to be Ahead at Half-TimeLauren James to ScoreLucy Bronze to Be Booked

A Bet Builder with these selections pays at approximately 51/1 with Paddy Power. CLICK HERE TO ADD TO YOUR BETSLIP.

*All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widgets, while odds in copy are accurate at time of publishing but subject to change.

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