We select our Scout Picks side for EURO 2020 Fantasy for the final time as England take on Italy at Wembley.
There are also the results of the on-site captaincy poll to discuss ahead of tonight’s European Championship final plus a look at some relatively low-owned differentials for anyone trying to make up ground in their mini-leagues or on the overall leaderboard.
SCOUT PICKS
By virtue of making three more saves (12 v 9) than Gianluigi Donnarumma (€5.8m), we are opting for Jordan Pickford (€5.9m) in goal.
He is joined by Luke Shaw (€6.3m) and Harry Maguire (€5.7m). Shaw has created four big chances in five appearances, while Maguire tops all defenders for headed attempts (7) despite only featuring four times so far.
With the benefit of seeing the teamsheets before deadline, we’re opting for Giovanni Di Lorenzo (€5.2m) as our third defender in the hope the right-back could earn his first attacking return of the tournament.
The midfield begins with Raheem Sterling (€9.9m), whose worst score so far has been a three-point offering in Matchday 2. The Manchester City forward has scored three goals, provided an assist and won a penalty.
Lorenzo Insigne (€8.7m) also makes the cut. Only Kevin De Bruyne (13) has created more chances than the diminutive Italian (12) at EURO 2020.
Italy’s semi-final goalscorer Federico Chiesa (€7.4m) joins Insigne in midfield. He has fired off 14 goal attempts in 334 minutes, with 10 of those taken inside the area.
Having started both games since isolating as a close contact, Mason Mount (€7.3m) is expected to be part of Gareth Southgate’s XI once more and takes the majority of corners.
Bukayo Saka (€6.6m) assisted England’s opener against Denmark and if picked again, he will also make our XI.
Only Alvaro Morata (nine) has been on the end of as many big chances as England’s penalty taker Harry Kane (€11.7m), with the national team captain also earning our armband.
Ciro Immobile (€10.2m) will hope to end a run of three consecutive blanks by netting against England on Sunday evening.
Our bench consists of two non-playing budget picks in Sam Johnstone (€4.0m) and Giacomo Raspadori (€5.5m), plus back-up Fantasy defenders Emerson (€5.5m) and Leonardo Bonucci (€5.7m).
CAPTAINCY POLL RESULTS
The majority of Fantasy Football Scout site users (over 80%) have backed an attacking asset for tonight’s game, even though these nerve-wracking encounters are traditionally tighter affairs: eight of the last nine European Championship finals have seen two or fewer goals scored in normal time.
Over two-thirds of you have opted for an England player, with Kane and Sterling mopping up a combined 60% of the vote alone.
SPOT THE DIFFERENTIAL
Seven of England’s predicted starting XI have ownerships of 28% or higher in the official EURO 2020 Fantasy game, so there are few bona fide differentials from the Three Lions camp.
Saka warrants a mention, though, as the Arsenal man features in just 4% of Fantasy squads.
As previously mentioned, the young winger provided the assist for England’s equaliser in the semi-final win over Denmark – although has supplied just one key pass and hasn’t had one shot on goal in his three outings so far.
The accompanying advice would be to obviously wait for the starting XIs to be named an hour ahead of kick-off before taking the plunge on Saka, should Southgate opt for a different option out wide.
Declan Rice (£5.6m) is also owned by just 3% of managers but with good reason: his well-hit effort from distance against Ukraine represents his only shot in six tournament appearances.
In the Italian camp, injuries in the full-back department have paved the way for Emerson and Di Lorenzo to stake first-team claims.
As a result of their belated call-ups to the starting XI, their Fantasy ownerships are sub-10%.
Di Lorenzo is averaging a shot every game, while Emerson’s minutes-per-chance mean of 58 is very close to what Leonardo Spinazzola was producing before his injury.
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