Defending champions England bounced back from an opening Group D defeat to France to progress to the last eight of Euro 2025 thanks to impressive victories over Netherlands and Wales.
The Lionesses face a tough test against Sweden in the quarter-finals, though, as they take on the side who topped Group C with three wins from three.
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Sweden vs England betting tips
- England to win & both teams to score @ 10/3
- Lauren James anytime goalscorer @ 9/4
- Bet Builder – Alessia Russo to score anytime and over 2.5 total goals @ 31/10
England to stay on course for Euros repeat
Before the tournament began, England were rightly fancied to compete for the trophy in Switzerland having won the last edition in 2022.
The Lionesses also underlined their quality in the major competitions when only narrowly being beaten by Spain in the World Cup final two years ago and they should progress to the last four in Switzerland by seeing off the Swedes.
Sarina Wiegman’s side have responded well to their opening-game setback against France, when they looked very out of sorts in a 2-1 defeat, to since storm past Netherlands 4-0 and Wales 6-1 to secure second place in the section.
The manner of the victories will have restored confidence perfectly for the knockout stage and England should therefore approach Thursday’s tie in Zurich with a very positive mindset.
Sweden are likely to offer more resistance than both the Dutch and the Welsh, though, as Peter Gerhardsson’s side have been one of the stand-out teams in the tournament so far.
They began with a 1-0 win over Denmark before dominating against Poland in their second game when winning 3-0. A superb 4-1 demolition of Germany sealed top spot in the group and should serve as a warning to England for the quarter-final.
The Swedes will also be keen to exact revenge on England for the 4-0 semi-final defeat they suffered at the hands of the Lionesses in the Euros three years ago.
They have plenty of talented players in their ranks, including Arsenal’s Stina Blackstenius and Fiorentina’s Lina Hurtig, who have both scored twice in the tournament, and they can hurt England even if they might end up being edged out on the night.
James can inspire Lionesses again
Lauren James has arguably been England’s best player in Switzerland and the Chelsea star can inspire the Lionesses in their bid to make the last four.
James has already scored twice in the tournament and is playing with such belief that she will expect to control things against the Swedes.
The 23-year-old has had nine shots across England’s three games – a figure only matched by Alessia Russo in the Lionesses squad – and she looks solid value at 9/4 to add to her tally in Thursday’s big tie.
Russo to roar in exciting quarter-final
Russo has started all three games in Switzerland in a central role up front and will be keen to add at least another goal to her England record, which currently stands at 24 following her strike against Wales.
Russo was the main provider against Netherlands when she assisted three of the four goals in the second group game, but she will feel slightly disappointed to only have the one goal so far this summer – the fourth against Wales.
These two sides have scored a combined 19 goals at Euro 2025 so far (England 11, Sweden eight) and five of the six games involving Sweden and England in the tournament have contained three goals or more.
Therefore we should expect plenty of attacking entertainment in Zurich.
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