Goal projections for the Euro 2016 Quarter-final ties

Iceland produced one of the biggest shocks international football has ever seen when they ended England’s Euro 2016 hopes, courtesy of a 2-1 victory at the Stade de Nice. The Icelanders showed characteristics that were sadly missing from their English opponents. Determination, hunger and tremendous team-spirit were all in evidence on a night that will never be forgotten. However, it would appear that Iceland have another mountain to climb, based on the bookmakers projections for the quarter-final ties – France have the greatest goal expectancy and match supremacy figure of all sides participating in the last 8 matches.

One positive Iceland can take, though, is that N’Golo Kanté and Adil Rami picked up bookings against the Republic of Ireland, ruling them out of this clash.

Italy’s Thiago Motta and Belgium’s Thomas Vermaelen are also ruled out of their respective quarter-final ties due to accumulation of bookings.

Germany versus Italy is arguably the pick of the round. Die Mannschaft are yet to concede a goal in the tournament, tempting fantasy football managers to consider the inclusion of their defenders but on a cautionary note it’s worth mentioning that Italy have put in two very impressive performances. They dismantled Belgium on Matchday 1 and swept Spain aside with an assured, tactical display in the round-of-16. Giorgio Chiellini opened the scoring for the Azzurri in a man of the match display against the defending champions, earning a WhoScored rating of 8.29 in the process.

The games are spread over 4 days so expect plenty of single match only fantasy contests as well as slates that cover the full round of games or selected days only.