Women's Euro 2022 outright predictions: Time for Lionesses to roar

Free football outright tips, best bets and analysis for the Women's Euro 2022, starting on Wednesday July 6.

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BBC One, BBC Two and BBC iPlayer

Best bet

England to win Women's Euro 2022
2pts each-way 9-2 bet365

Women's Euro 2022 preview

Five years on from their crushing semi-final defeat to the Netherlands at the last European Championship, England Women look primed and ready to go the distance at Euro 2022.

Sarina Wiegman was in charge of the Dutch in 2017, leading them to Euro glory on home soil, and she can repeat the feat as England's head coach this time.

As well as having a manager who has won the Euros and led the Netherlands to the last World Cup final, the Lionesses also have the advantage of home crowds this summer, starting the tournament against Austria at Old Trafford on Wednesday.

Wiegman, a ruthless and meticulous tactician, is yet to lose as England manager, having picked up 12 wins and two draws from her 14 matches since taking the reins in September last year.

As tournament hosts, the Lionesses have not had to go through any Euro 2022 qualifiers but they have kept themselves warm with a red-hot World Cup qualifying campaign in which they won all eight of their matches, scoring 68 goals and conceding none.

And they barely broke a sweat in their three pre-tournament friendlies, swatting aside Belgium 3-0, the Netherlands 5-1 and Switzerland 4-0.

Those results highlighted what is arguably England's greatest asset – depth in attack.

Four-time PFA Young Player of the Year Lauren Hemp is a seriously exciting prospect on the flank, Ellen White is her country's all-time top goalscorer and Beth Mead is fresh from a superb season for Arsenal in the Women's Super League.

Add to that names such as Nikita Parris, Alessia Russo and Ella Toone on the bench and it seems unlikely England will have an issue finding the net.

The Lionesses are in a relatively soft section with Austria, Norway and debutants Northern Ireland joining them in Group A and it could finally be their time to win a major tournament.

Bookmakers agree England have a shot with only Spain above Wiegman's side in the outright betting.

Spain are blessed with a core of players from the Barcelona team who are fresh from winning the Spanish top flight with 30 wins from 30 games as well as making the final of the Champions League.

Midfielder Alexia Putellas remains one of the greatest players to grace the women's game but it is hard to justify backing La Roja given they have not won a knockout match at a major tournament under Jorge Vilda, who has been in charge since 2015.

The Dutch, who were pummelled by England last month, are in transition under Mark Parsons, while Germany head coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg still looks unsure of her best starting combination.

France are another team punters might consider but they have not made it beyond the quarter-finals of a major tournament since 2011 and manager Corinne Diacre has been known to clash with her players.

Sweden, who were silver medallists at Tokyo 2020, are worth keeping an eye on but everything points towards Euro 2022 being England's time to shine.

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