Regardless of the small blip against Watford on the final day of February, there’s no doubt that Liverpool have been on fire this season. Jurgen Klopp’s squad is one of the best in the club’s history, and possibly even the history of the Premier League.
With 27 wins from 29 games and an astonishing 82 points, with a further 27 up for grabs, Liverpool could be ending the season with the highest points tally since the Premier League began. 109 points would eclipse the 100 achieved by Manchester City just a couple of seasons ago.
Liverpool remains in contention for the Champions League too. Winning that would be a fantastic haul for the reds who would be champions of England, Europe and the World simultaneously.
When the Premier League ends in May, there’s still plenty of football for fans to enjoy this year. The Euro 2020 competition will kick off on 12th June, with the first England game against Croatia taking place at Wembley Stadium on 14th June.
England Favourites to Win?
When the FIFA World Cup took place in Russia in 2018, England fans were pleasantly surprised at how Gareth Southgate’s men managed to look like contenders for the title. Fans were beginning to believe that football really could be coming home.
However, the England team were knocked out in the semi-finals by Croatia 2-1. They ultimately finished 4th, after being beaten by Belgium 2-0 in the third-place playoff game.
Despite not going all the way, England fans were elated at the performance; the national side’s best for almost two decades.
This has made England one of the favourites to win the tournament. According to Oddschecker, major bookmakers are putting England just ahead of France, Belgium and the Netherlands as the teams most likely to win.
The 2020 tournament will be held across 12 countries instead of the usual – just the single host nation. This is to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the tournament, which has been run 15 times before 2020.
The semi-finals and final will be held at Wembley Stadium, meaning England could manage to secure their first Euro tournament win at the home of English football.
Liverpool’s Contribution to Euro 2020 Success
Given that Liverpool have such a strong squad this season, it’s reasonable to assume that some of its English players are likely to feature prominently in Harry Kane’s squad for Euro 2020.
Here’s a look at some of those players.
Jordan Henderson
Liverpool’s captain will be celebrating his 30th birthday in between England’s first and second group stage games. He is a strong contender to make the England squad, having had 55 caps for the national team since 2010.
The Liverpool defensive midfielder has the best odds of all English players in the Liverpool squad of getting into the England team for the Euro 2020 tournament.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
Next on the list of possible Liverpool players that could make it into the England squad is Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. The 26-year-old has played for the national side since 2012, earning 35 caps in that time.
From those 35 games, he has managed to score 7 goals. He featured in the England squad at the Euro 2012 tournament in Poland and Ukraine, starting in the team’s first game against France.
He had to sit out the FIFA World Cup in 2018 due to an injury, so his lack of recent international experience may go against him.
Currently, major oddsmakers are giving Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain odds of around 1/3 to 1/6 to make it into the England Squad for Euro 2020.
Joe Gomez
22 year old Joe Gomez has played just 8 international games for the senior England side since he made his debut in 2017. The centre back was selected by Gareth Southgate for the 23 man squad that travelled to Russia for the World Cup in 2018. There he made just two appearances.
Playing for Liverpool, Gomez earned a lot of praise in the early months of this season as he featured in Klopp’s starting lineup, contributing to several clean sheets. This performance may help to get Gomez a spot in the Euro 2020 England squad.
Gomez is currently receiving odds of around 1/3 – 1/6 to make it into the England squad.
Adam Lallana
Adam Lallana is the only other English player considered a contender for the England squad for this year’s Euros. Playing for Liverpool since 2014, the 31-year-old has managed 18 goals from 128 appearances.
The attacking midfielder has had 34 England caps since making his international debut in 2013. From these 34 games, he has managed to score 3 goals, all of which were in 2016. Two of these came during qualification games for the 2018 FIFA World Cup – the first against Slovakia and the second against Scotland. The third came in a friendly game against Spain.
This performance earned him a place in the squad that travelled to Russia for the World Cup finals. Lallana was also part of the side that won the UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup in 2019, so he has quite a bit of international experience.
Age isn’t on his side though, and bookmakers aren’t giving him favourable odds for making it into the Euro 2020 squad, with 64 other players receiving better odds than him.
In Conclusion
Overall, Liverpool has some strong talent that could make some good contributions to the England squad for the Euro 2020 tournament. That said, Gareth Southgate has a lot of options to consider so it will be unlikely that all these players will make it.
Jordan Henderson is probably a safe bet. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Joe Gomez are also strong contenders, but Adam Lallana is a bit of a long shot, given there are nearly three squads full of players getting better odds than him.
Regardless of which players make it into the squad, Liverpool fans can rest safe in the knowledge that 2020 is going to be a good year. With the Premier League almost wrapped up, there is the opportunity to mount a good challenge for the Champions League. When that’s all over, fans can look forward to a few weeks of non-stop football fever as Euro 2020 takes over the country.
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