GR-EIGHT LIONS!

ENGLAND BOSS SELECTS FOUR PLAYERS FROM BOTH UNITED AND CITY FOR WORLD CUP SQUAD

IT’S the ultimate dream – England to win the World Cup for the first time in 52 years by beating Germany in the 2018 final – on penalties, of course.

And that dream bet is 500/1 at Betfred.

We, meanwhile, have Gareth Southgate’s Three Lions at 16/1 for the nightmare scenario of going out of the tournament on penalties, at any knockout stage.

Also at 16/1 is England to win the World Cup, with Brazil joint 9/2 favourites alongside Germany.

I’m predicting the Brazilian odds will tumble with their boss Tite instilling more discipline into the Samba stars.

Brazil have never really set the world on fire when the biggest tournament of all has been on European soil. But, this team could easily buck the trend. Everywhere you look, there is absolute class with Neymar, Jesus and Firmino to name but three.

Southgate had few surprises in his provisional 23-man squad for this summer’s showpiece, with the exclusion of veteran keeper Joe Hart and Jack Wilshere.

Harry Kane is the only undisputed world-class player in our squad. He is 16/1 with us to be the top scorer in Russia, behind Argentina’s Lionel Messi (9/1), Neymar (10/1), Portugal’s Ronaldo 12/1 – and City’s fastrising star Gabriel Jesus has come in from 25/1 to 16/1 to pick up the golden boot.

Kane is 9/4 to score the first goal of England’s Group G campaign against Tunisia – an opener England are 1/3 to win.

The Three Lions are 5/4 to top the group that is made up of Tunisia, Panama and all-star Belgium.

While should they progress, they are 4/5 to go one step further and reach the quarter finals.

Those fancying a semi-final exit, similar to Italia 90, can get 11/4, while to reach the final it’s 7/1.

Everton’s Jordan Pickford the favourite to start in goal at 1/3, Stoke’s Jack Butland 3/1, and Burnley’s ex-Bury star Nick Pope the outsider at 8/1.

Here’s Betfred outright odds to win the World Cup: Germany 9/2, Brazil 9/2, France 11/2, Spain 13/2, Argentina 9/1, Belgium 10/1, England 16/1, Portugal 25/1.