A strong Premier League influence in both sides could ensure an exciting game when England take on the Netherlands in the European Championship semifinals tonight at 9pm, according to Dutch star Micky van de Ven.
The vast majority of the English squad are home-based, while the Dutch squad includes seven players at Premier League clubs – Van de Ven, Cody Gakpo, Ryan Gravenberch, Mark Flekken, Nathan Ake, Bart Verbruggen and Virgil van Djik.
And Tottenham Hotspur defender Van de Ven says: “If you see the quality of the players from both teams, I think you can expect that the level and the rhythm of the game will be really high.
“Hopefully, it’s us that will have more of the ball than England so that it is England who do the running, but I expect a high- intensity game.
“We understand they have taken a lot of flak from the English media but they are in the semifinals… that says [it] all…”
England, meanwhile, have skarreled into the last four with swak performances against opponents they should, on paper, have beaten easily.
But they improved against Switzerland in the quarterfinal and coach Gareth Southgate says ahead of tonight’s crunch match: “These are national events with huge pressure, with really young men in the middle of it.
“Our team has been under enormous pressure from the start...”
The winner will face the winner of last night’s semi between France and Spain in the final.