Euro 2012 / Ben Lyttleton / 17 April 2012 /

This summer at Euro 2012 Premier League fans will see quite a few of their favourite players playing in positions very different to those they're used to seeing them in when they tune in week-in-week-out. Ben Lyttleton explains all.

One of the joys of international football is seeing how players cope not only with different opposition, or different team-mates, but in different positions themselves. This summer, several Premier League players could take on different roles for their countries, among them Robin van Persie, Luka Modric, Florent Malouda and Tomas Rosicky. Indeed, Sweden's chances of progression from Group D could depend on a tactical shift involving their captain and star man Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

But what of Van Persie, whose goalscoring form for Arsenal this season has made him favourite to win Footballer of the Year? While he is Holland's first-choice centre-forward under Bert van Marwijk, who coached him at Feyenoord, he is under pressure from Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, whose record this season is 43 goals in 45 games. Huntelaar also top-scored for Holland in the qualifiers and his form is making it difficult for Van Marwijk to leave him out.

No matter: Van Persie could play behind the front man in Holland's 4-2-3-1 system, if Wesley Sneijder was unavailable, or on either flank, which would allow Huntelaar to start. Van Persie is ([10.5]) to finish top-scorer with Huntelaar ([18.5])

In Croatia, the positional debate centres around Modric: at times he has played in the same central midfield position that he has made his own at Tottenham in a 4-2-3-1 system, at other times on the right of the three with Ivan Rakitic in the middle. When Dario Srna moved to that right-wing slot, Modric moved into the central slot, the hole behind the forward, where he first came to prominence at Dinamo Zagreb. "I want to free Luka of too much defensive work. With him on the wing and Rakitic in midfield, I believe we can keep the creativity of our midfield," said Bilic. Croatia's chances in their Group C opener against Ireland, for which they are [2.18] to win, could depend on where Modric starts that game.

Malouda and Rosicky are other cases: the Chelsea left-winger's best chance of a game for France is now on the right wing, given that Franck Ribery is guaranteed starting-time on the left, although Malouda even played briefly in central midfield in the recent win over Germany. The irony with Rosicky is that for years he has said that his best position is in central midfield, and as soon as he finally gets to play there for Arsenal ­ he admitted last Fabregas or Samir Nasri at the start of the season ­ his position has changed for the Czech Republic.

The Czech coach Michal Bilek changed his system just before the play-off win over Montenegro, and in that tie Rosicky started out wide in the 4-2-3-1 system, although there were concerns that he drifted infield too often.

Rosicky is not the only skipper facing this issue: in Sweden¹s recent 3-1 friendly win against Croatia, Zlatan Ibrahimovic dropped back into a playmaker position and ran the game, scoring one and setting up two. "I get to keep the ball more, rather than fight for the tough ones like when I play all the way up top," said Ibra, who seemed happy with the change. "I get the ball more at my feet, so that I can turn and advance with pace. That's what I want to do."

The change should deter punters from backing Ibrahimovic in the Top Scorer market, ([65.0]). Of all the players who face positional changes this summer, Ibrahimovic seems the most happy with his ­ and that alone could help Sweden pull off a shock and qualify from Group D, for which they are ([2.82]).

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