Croatia v England: Prediction, team news, lineups and odds | OneFootball

It’s one defeat and one victory so far for England in their Nations League campaign. Predictably, the loss came at home to World Cup winners Spain (2-3) before Thomas Tuchel’s men got off the mark with a fairly facile 2-0 win away to 10-man Czechia.

Croatia, familiar foes for England, are also on three points after matching the Three Lions’ results. They started with a 2-1 away win against the Czechs but were then thumped 4-1 in Spain.

After two away games, Croatia would usually be chomping at the bit to perform in front of their home fans but there won’t be any. Following crowd trouble during their Nations League quarter-final matches against France in March 2025, UEFA have imposed a ban, although 100 England supporters have been allowed to attend.

Croatia v England kick-off time

Croatia v England kicks off at 5pm BST on Saturday, October 3 at the HNK Rijeka Stadium Rujevica.

Croatia v England how to watch

The game will be shown live in the UK on ITV 1, with coverage starting from 4.15pm.

BBC Radio 5 Live and talkSPORT will provide full match commentary.

England team news

Thomas Tuchel outlined at the start of the international break that James Trafford and Jordan Pickford would share goalkeeping duties over the four games. So it’s Pickford’s turn to take the gloves here.

Trent Alexander-Arnold and Lewis Hall made a good impression as England’s full-backs against Czechia so look set to start again, especially with Nico O’Reilly being sent back to his club, Manchester City, due to injury.

At centre-back there could be changes though, with Jarrad Branthwaite and Ezri Konsa being considered as potential starters.

Elliot Anderson will keep his place in midfield, but James Garner and Alex Scott will both look to make their first competitive starts for England.

Jude Bellingham is virtually certain to return after coming off the bench against the Czechs, while Tuchel will likely play Anthony Gordon and Bukayo Saka as part of a front three with Harry Kane.

Croatia team news

Slaven Bilic is without Martin Erlic and Josip Juranovic in defence, but Josip Stanisic is likely to return after missing the Spain game with injury.

Despite now being 41, Luka Modric will line up again in midfield and he’s already been on the scoresheet in this opening wave of Nations League matches after scoring in the 2-1 win over Czechia.

Bilic made six changes for the game against Spain from the team that beat the Czechs so he’s likely to shuffle the pack again.

That could mean a start for Brighton’s Luka Vuskovic in central defence.

Croatia v England odds

England are 5/6 favourites to make it back-to-back wins in their Nations League campaign.

Croatia are 3/1 while The Draw is 11/4.

To win Nations League A Group 3, England are 7/2 second-favourites behind 1/4 Spain, while Croatia trade at 16/1.

In the outright Nations League betting, England are 9/2 third favourites behind 2/1 Spain and 11/4 France.

Croatia v England prediction

England played away to Croatia in the 2018 Nations League when fans were banned.

Did the lack of atmosphere make a difference? The 0-0 scoreline suggested it did.

The contrasting argument is that these two played out an entertaining group game in this summer’s World Cup, with England running out 4-2 winners.

England will at least have some vocal support and the visitors should have just enough here.

Since Croatia beat England in the 2018 World Cup semis and drew 0-0 with them in an empty stadium three months later, the Three Lions have won the last three head-to-heads.

Harry Kane scored his 86th and 87th England goals in the Nations League games against Spain and Czechia, so let’s keep it simple. Back Kane to score in an England win at 7/4.

Add in a clean sheet, so England to win, Kane to score and Both Teams to Score ‘No’ in a Bet Builder pays around 4/1.