Switzerland have their full squad available for today’s Euro 2024 quarter-final against England.
They received a huge boost on Wednesday when it was confirmed influential midfielder Granit Xhaka would be fit for the game, despite suffering adductor pain during their 2-0 win against Italy last Saturday.
Coming off a near unbeaten season with Bayer Leverkusen, Xhaka controlled the game against the Azzurri and was deservedly named player of the match. He’ll present a problem to England midfield, which has at times lacked control against supposedly inferior sides.
CLICK HERE TO FOLLOW ENGLAND VS SWITZERLAND LIVE!
However, Xhaka is not the only player England need to be wary about. Ruben Vargas scored an excellent goal against Italy, while fellow winger Dan Ndoye has been linked with Manchester United and Inter Milan after several fine performances against Germany and Italy.
Michel Aebischer in particular may cause the England defense problems due to his unique role. He typically plays as a defensive midfielder for Bologna, but has been starting as a left wing-back. In possession, he’s often been drifting into more central positions and allowing left centre-back Ricardo Rodriguez to overlap and overload the opposition right-back.
Aebischer’s movement and rotations with Rodriguez and Ndoye has caused teams plenty of problems so far, and England have switched to a back three to combat that.
Switzerland XI: Sommer, Schar, Akanji, Rodriguez, Ndoye, Freuler, Xhaka, Aebischer, Rieder, Vargas, Embolo
Subs: Stergiou, Widmer, Elvedi, Zakaria, Okafor, Steffen, Mvogo, Zuber, Zesiger, Sierro, Duah, Kobel, Shaqiri, Jashari, Amdouni
Time and date: 5pm BST later today on Saturday, July 4, 2024
Venue: Dusseldorf Arena, Dusseldorf
TV channel and live stream: BBC One, BBC iPlayer, BBC Sport website
