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England will look to all but secure their passage through to Euro 2012 with a win over Wales at Wembley on Tuesday.
Fabio Capello’s new-look side convincingly dispatched of Bulgaria 3-0 in Sofia on Friday thanks to a brace from Wayne Rooney and a first goal in an England shirt for Gary Cahill.
The Italian will be hoping for a similar performance against Gary Speed’s men.
With a new look formation and a wave of young talent coming through, England will be hoping to finish their campaign in a more convincing manner than they begun.
Draws with Montenegro and Switzerland in their first five games had left England level on points at the top of Group G with Montenegro.
But their win over Bulgaria coupled with Wales surprising 2-1 win over Montenegro have given the Three Lions some breathing space at the top of the table, and three points in Cardiff would mean that anything other than a defeat in their October fixture against Montenegro would guarantee their qualification for the finals in Poland and Ukraine.
Wales will be hoping to avoid a contest as one-sided as last time when goals from Frank Lampard and Darren Bent helped England to a comfortable victory, but with Speed picking up his first win as Wales boss on Friday in a display young Arsenal starlet Aaron Ramsey described as “confident and arrogant”, the visitors will be quietly confident of upsetting the odds.
History is against Wales in this fixture, and while the rivalry remains as fierce as ever previous results suggest the game is likely to only go one way.
In the previous eight meetings in European and World Cup qualifiers between the two sides England have emerged victorious six times, with Wales picking up a solitary win while the pair have drawn once.
Wales will hold on to the memory of their victory in Wales back in 1977 where a Leighton James penalty was enough to grant the away side a rare victory, and with England failing to win in their last four games at the new Wembley, there is ever chance of an upset.
England will be without Micah Richards, Darren Bent and Leighton James who have all pulled out with injury, while Wales will be buoyed by the return of Jack Collison, who was forced to sit out of the 2-1 win over Montenegro through illness.
Match Odds
It comes as no surprise that England are huge favourites for this game, and can be found at 7/50 with BetFair.
Wales could be worth a few quid for the win at 27.00 (26/1)@ Betfair while the draw is priced at 8.50 (15/2)
It is difficult to make a case for the away side given their prior record, and by all accounts England should walk this, but a good performance against Montenegro would have made Capello sit up and take notice, and in Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey Wales have two genuine game winners.
First Goalscorer
Given Wayne Rooney’s irrepressible form so far this season it would be hard to bet against him to open the goal scoring on Tuesday. The Manchester United forward added two more goals against Bulgaria to take his tally to seven in four games in all competitions, and at 4.00 (3/1) @ Paddy Power is certainly worth backing.
If you’re looking for more bang for your buck, Ashley Young at 7.00 (6/1) is excellent value. Given the former Aston Villa winger’s electric start to the season with Man Utd, he could be amongst the goals once more after impressing in Sofia.
Gary Cahill opened the scoring on Tuesday and is 26.00 (25/1) to do so again, and with Capello promising to make changes from the XI that took to the pitch against Bulgaria, Jermain Defoe may get a chance to find the net first at 5.50 (9/2).
Recommended bet
Over 2.5 goals – 1.44 (4/9)@ BlueSQ
