High streets and avenues around will be eerily deserted on Sunday morning as a nation waits with bated breath for history to be made on the other side of the globe.
Fast forward to Sunday lunchtime and there will be football fans rushing outside to share their celebrations after England have won the Women’s .
The joy and relief at building on last summer’s European Championship success will be palpable.
And what’s more, the Lionesses can win this final with convincingly, even though the scoreline may not reflect it.
England reached their first Women’s World Cup final by and Sarina Wiegman is expected to stick with the same starting XI and a similar gameplan even though Lauren James has completed her two-match ban.
Ella Toone was a more than capable replacement and opened the door to victory by breaking the deadlock in Wednesday’s semi-final.
She deserves to keep her place in the side leaving James as an impact player off the bench.
and she can cause Spain no end of problems with her work rate, incisive passing and accurate finishing and she’s 8/1 with Paddy Power to open the scoring and 7/2 to hit the net at any time.
Spain were England’s most difficult opponents in last year’s Euros and it took an extra-time winner in the quarter-finals to beat them.
Barring the 4-0 defeat to Japan in the group stages, they have looked strong and have dominated teams by keeping possession but despite that they don’t create enough chances.
Barcelona’s Salma Paralluello will yet again be dangerous off the bench and may score at Paddy Power’s 3/1 but England can win 2-1 and spark celebrations like Sir Alf Ramsey’s Boys of ‘66 at 9/1 with the same bookmaker.
Before then, Brentford are 8/5 to win at Fulham while Paddy Power also offer 7/5 over 3.5 goals when Tottenham entertain Manchester United.
Middlesbrough, Sunderland, Ipswich and Blackpool form this weekend’s Football League yankee.
• Ireland are 11/2 with William Hill and Betfred to beat England by 11-15 points in their Rugby World Cup warmup in Dublin.
• Pogo will have each-way punters jumping for joy after the Hungerford Stakes at Newbury. Charlie Hills’ seven-year-old is fresh from his best run of the year when thirdin the Criterion at Newmarket and is a nice price at 9/1 with BetUK.
