England can seal their qualification for next summer’s World Cup Finals with a victory over Slovenia at Wembley Stadium on Thursday night. Gareth Southgate’s side will be confident of getting the job done against a Slovenia side who are in danger of missing out on a playoff place if they lose another game. Following their defeat to Slovakia in the last round of games, Slovenia now find themselves down in third place with just two games left to play, whilst England are five points clear at the top of the group.
When: 7:45PM, Thursday, October 5th, 2017
Where: Wembley Stadium, London, England
England picked up a huge victory against Slovakia last time out despite falling behind to an early goal, before Eric Dier and Marcus Rashford sealed the all important victory for Southgate’s side. The England manager will be hoping that Harry Kane can continue his miraculous form from the month of September which saw the Spurs striker score 13 times following a goalless August.
Team News
England will be without midfielder Dele Alli for the game against Slovenia following the Spurs midfielder’s suspension for his gesture during the Slovakia game. Liverpool ace Adam Lallana also remains on the treatment table, whilst Harry Winks was a surprise inclusion in the squad. Southgate will be expected to start with a front three including Harry Kane, Marcus Rashford and Raheem Sterling and he will be confident that that trio have enough goals in them to overcome a stubborn Slovenia side. England will have to weary of the threat posed by Josip Ilicic, with the midfielder having found the net three times in his last three games for his country.
Prediction
England always get the job done in qualification and I think they’ll pick up a routine victory against Slovenia in this one. Harry Kane is in the form of his life at the moment and is arguably the best centre forward in world football right now and if he’s in the mood on Thursday night, then England should cruise this one. One area where England look a little weak is in the centre of midfield and if Slovenia are to have any chance then they will need to dominate there.
Betting Preview – Ladbrokes
England go into the game as big favourites for the win on Thursday at odds of 1/3, whilst an away victory for Slovenia is 11/1 and the draw is 17/2. I don’t think there’s much value in the 1/3 available on England, so looking further into it, a Half Time/Full Time bet on England/England at 10/11 seems like good value to me. In terms of goal scorers, the 8/11 on Harry Kane to score at anytime looks like free money to me and the 3/1 on the Spurs man scoring 2 or more could definitely be worth a look.
HT/FT – ENGLAND/ENGLAND – 5/6 (Ladbrokes)