Reliable From The Spot? Not Gerrard And Milner
With penalties a hot topic going into the knockout stages of Euro 2012 William Hill are betting on who will be the first England player to miss one in a dreaded shootout. Steven Gerrard and James Milner are both 9/2.
Manchester United penalty taker Wayne Rooney is 5/1 with John Terry, who missed a penalty in the Champions League final in 2008 at 6/1. Ashley Cole scored a magnificent penalty in Chelseas shootout win against Bayern Munich and is a 7/1 chance to miss first, as is Liverpool forward Andy Carroll.
Joe Hart has taken a few penalties in his time and has said he would step up in the first five if called upon. The confident stopper is 20/1 to be the first player to miss. He scored penalties for the Under 21s against Sweden in 2009 and in a friendly for Manchester City against LA Galaxy last year.
The captain and Milner are favourites to miss first but they have been good takers at club level in the past, Milner more so at Villa but we believe that the pressure of taking a must score penalty could get to one or two of these lions as nerves have definitely hit in years gone by, said Hills spokesman Mark Young.
First England player to miss a penalty in a penalty shootout:
9/2 Steven Gerrard, 9/2 James Milner, 5/1 Wayne Rooney, 6/1 John Terry, 6/1 Any Other, 7/1 Ashley Cole, 7/1 Andy Carroll, 8/1 Ashley Young, 9/1 Scott Parker, 10/ Danny Welbeck, 12/1 Theo Walcott, 14/1 Joleon Lescott, 20/1 Joe Hart
*Bets are void if a penalty shootout does not take place with England involved in the rest of the tournament.
Further Information
Mark Young
PR Assistant, William Hill
Email: myoung@williamhill.co.uk
Phone: 02089183981