Croatia U21 v England U21: Man United man to thrive

Gareth Southgate has continued the good work of Stuart Pearce

Michael Lintorn expects Luke Shaw and co to keep a clean sheet and see England U21 through past Croatia U21...

Croatia U21 v England U21
Tuesday, 17:00
Live on BT Sport 1

Match Odds: Croatia U21 2.829/5, England U21 2.77/4, The Draw 3.55/2

If 2-0 is football's clichd dangerous scoreline then there is no doubt that 2-1 is its two-legged equivalent, especially when it is a home team travelling for the second leg knowing that a 0-1 reverse will be enough to wipe them out.

That is the position that England U21 take with them to Vinkovci after Marko Livaja fired Croatia U21 into an early lead at Molineux which was overturned in the second half by Harry Kane and Saido Berahino. Now comes the dilemma of whether to defend the advantage that they have for 90 more minutes or try to add to it and risk being punished by a reasonably accomplished attacking force.

However, as established in the profitable first-leg preview, these are the posers that the Young Lions specialise in resolving as the sole nation to have qualified for the previous four European U21 Championships, each time by virtue of play-off success.

In both the 2011 and 2013 campaigns, the key to progress against Romania U21 and then Serbia U21 was to win the first leg and shut out their opponents in the return, and there are several reasons to trust a backline likely to feature Jack Butland, Luke Shaw and Eric Dier to follow the formula.

Though Gareth Southgate's side were breached at Wolves, it was an anomaly. They kept eight clean sheets in ten games in their group, giving up just two goals across the exceptions.

Additionally, while Croatia U21's tally of 20 goals in eight Group 5 ties might sound impressive, they only scored five times in the four against main competitors Ukraine U21 and Switzerland U21, and an even more uninspiring one in two at home, being beaten 0-2 when hosting Switzerland U21.

This writer is focussing exclusively on the England U21 clean sheet at 3.8514/5, but if you are keen to back a scorer then Berahino is an attractive candidate at 3.052/1 as the joint-top goal-getter in the entire process on nine strikes in eight appearances.

Recommended Bet: Back England U21 to keep a clean sheet @ 3.8514/5