Svensson: England are arrogant

Midfielder says: 'Maybe you think you are a little bit better than you are'

Sweden vice-captain Anders Svensson has said arrogance is behind England’s poor record in matches against his country.

Until a narrow win against the Swedes in a Wembley friendly towards the end of last year, England hadn’t chalked up a victory against them since 1968 - a run including four defeats.

Speaking as Sweden prepared for what he described as a “win or die” Group D clash between the teams in Kiev, midfielder Svensson said the two nations were now footballing equals.

The former Southampton player said: “I just think maybe you think you are a little bit better than you are - but we are a little bit better than you think we are.

“Obviously, you have big names, big players. You have a great team, but I think you don’t think that much about the Swedish team and never have. We are a good team, on the same level as England, and have been for a long time."

Svensson denied there was unrest in the Swedish camp after reports suggested Zlatan Ibrahimovic had voiced anger at some team-mates following defeat in the opening game against Ukraine. “There was no frustration from any player,” he said. “There was no problem at all.”

But the Ukraine result has piled the pressure on Sweden, and Svensson admitted: “I think we need to win against England to go forward. It will be win or die. It’s two knockout games [remaining].”

Ibrahimovic, who now occupies a deeper playmaking role for his country, suffered a thigh injury but is expected to return against England.

Defender Jonas Olsson has urged his team-mates to keep the Swedish run of good results against England going, saying: “Our record against England is something that is nice to have in the back of your head.

“We've done well against them, and hopefully we can keep that streak going for a few more years. It is quite a lot of matches, and you never want to be in the team that sees such a streak end. We also know that we need a positive result on Friday to stay in contention in the group.”

The West Brom player also dismissed reports of rifts, saying: “I don't know where that has come from. One of our biggest qualities is that we are a very nice group and very happy together.”

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