Slovenia v Denmark: Back defences to splinter in Stuttgart | OneFootball

It looked unlikely when Nicolo Barella volleyed home the game's third goal after just 16 minutes, but Italy/Under 3.5 Goals ended up a winner in Dortmund last night.

We're in Stuttgart today as two teams in England's group get their campaigns underway. Kasper Hjolmand's Denmark are odds-on favourites to beat Slovenia, but memories of their poor World Cup in Qatar are still pretty fresh - and the spine of the team (Schmeichel, Kjaer, Hojbjerg, Eriksen) remains the same. It's also worth noting that Slovenia coach Matjaz Kek was in charge when his country gave a good account of themselves at the 2010 Euros.

We're not sure the Scandinavians will have everything their own way today.These two were also drawn together in qualifying for this tournament, when they drew 1-1 in Ljubljana before Denmark won their home fixture 2-1. These outcomes weren't outliers either: Denmark conceded in 7/10 qualifiers home and away, while Slovenia - who finished with an identical W7-D1-L2 record to the group winners - scored in 9/10.

More recently, the Danes scored and conceded in both of their warm-up friendlies earlier this month, beating local rivals Sweden 2-1 then Norway 3-1. Meanwhile, Slovenia were beating Armenia 2-1 then drawing 1-1 with Bulgaria.

Supporting the trends, there's quality in the forward lines of both sides. Denmark have Manchester United tyro Rasmus Hojland, who is averaging a goal every other game through 14 appearances for his country.

Slovenia's main threat is likely to be Benjamin Sesko, the 21-year-old RB Leipzig forward who netted in each of his club side's final seven games of the season just gone. He's scored 10 times in his last 17 appearances for his country.

In the Slovenia goal, Atletico Madrid's Jan Oblak will be a big obstacle to Hojlund and co but, with the numbers and the forward personnel suggesting in harmony that attacks can find ways through defences this afternoon, we'll grab the odds-against price about both teams finding the back of the net.