Group C predictions: Three Lions should ease into the knockouts

England go into Euro 2024 with great expectations and Gareth Southgate's side are worthy favourites to outclass Group C opponents Denmark, Serbia and Slovenia.

Beaten on penalties by Italy in the Euro 2020 final at Wembley, England suffered an agonising 2-1 quarter-final defeat to France at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, where Harry Kane missed a late penalty.

The Three Lions are vying with Les Bleus for favouritism at the Euros and Southgate's exciting array of attacking talent means they should top the group with a degree of ease.

Record goalscorer Kane had a prolific first season at Bayern Munich while Manchester City's Phil Foden and Real Madrid's Jude Bellingham have been outstanding for their clubs.

Cole Palmer, Bukayo Saka and Ollie Watkins also lit up the Premier League and Declan Rice lived up to his hefty price tag with an excellent campaign for Arsenal.

There are doubts over England's defence but they should not be troubled unduly until later in the tournament. 

They kept clean sheets in their first five matches at Euro 2020, including wins over Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany and Ukraine, and also topped their group at the World Cup, thumping Iran 6-2 and Wales 3-0 either side of a goalless draw with the USA.

Southgate's men qualified impressively, beating European champions Italy 2-1 and 3-1 and thumping North Macedonia 7-0 at Old Trafford, and another bold bid for major-tournament glory is expected. 

England needed extra-time to edge past Denmark in the semi-finals at Euro 2020 and the Danes are rated the biggest threat to the Group C favourites.

However, they crashed out of the World Cup at the group stage, scoring only once in three games against Tunisia, France and Australia, and had a patchy qualifying campaign.

They lost 3-2 in Kazakhstan and 2-0 in Northern Ireland while October's trip to San Marino ended in an unexpectedly nervy 2-1 win.

The influential Christian Eriksen has had a forgettable season for Manchester United and it could be worth backing Slovenia to chase home England in the section.

They were in the same qualifying group as Denmark and finished on the same number of points – 22 from ten games – after drawing 1-1 with the Danes at home and losing the return fixture 2-1.

Slovenia are captained by Atletico Madrid goalkeeper Jan Oblak while 20-year-old striker Benjamin Sesko is one of Europe's hottest properties after scoring 14 Bundesliga goals in 17 starts and 14 substitute appearances for RB Leipzig.

March's 2-0 friendly win over Portugal enhanced the sense that Slovenia are a team on the up and they can pip Denmark and Serbia to second place behind England.

Serbia have a talented side, including Juventus striker Dusan Vlahovic, but they continue to look better on paper than they do on grass.

They won only four of their eight qualifiers despite being in a relatively weak group alongside Hungary, Montenegro, Lithuania and Bulgaria while they finished bottom of their 2022 World Cup group, losing to Brazil and Switzerland and blowing a 3-1 lead to draw 3-3 with Cameroon.