Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has been dropped to the bench and replaced by Andy Caroll for England’s game against Sweden at 8pm. There is also no room in the Starting XI for Theo Walcott, who made only a short cameo appearance against France on Monday afternoon.
Kick-off for the England game has been pushed back by 15 minutes in order to accommodate Ukraine vs France, which was delayed by an hour because of heavy rain. France are currently 2-0 up (goals from Menez & Cabaye), meaning that England need a win against Sweden in order to keep pace at the top of the group. Whoever comes second in Group D is odds-on to face Spain (the likely winners of Group C) in the quarter-finals.
Other than Andy Caroll, the England team remains unchanged from the team that drew against France. AOC’s performance on Monday was pretty solid, although I can understand if Roy Hodgson feels that he needs a bit more of a physical presence against Sweden.
Arsenal players are so far having not having the best of tournaments. Robin van Persie scored a fantastic goal against Germany, but The Netherlands still sit bottom of their group after 2 games. Nicklas Bendtner had an equally frustrating game against Portugal as his brace was not enough to stop Denmark losing 3-2. Tomas Rosicky is facing constant injury problems, while Laurent Koscielny has not played in either of France’s games. However, the big news was that Wojceich Sczcesny was sent off in Poland’s opening game against Greece. That said, Andrey Arshavin seems to have had 2 good games for Russia.
England team to play Sweden: Hart, Johnson, Terry, Lescott, Cole, Milner, Parker, Gerrard, Young, Welbeck, Carroll.