England v Belarus
Wembley, England
Wednesday 14th October, 20:00 BST
You can watch England v Belarus live online here.
The curtain comes down on England’s World Cup qualification campaign and, no matter the result on Wednesday 14th October against Belarus; Fabio Capello will be looking ahead to the World Cup with confidence. The road to South Africa has been uncannily smooth for a side that couldn’t make it to the Euro 2008 starting line; with spread punters who got with Don Fabio’s side generally happier than those who didn’t.
They gave Croatia double trouble with a 4-1 smash and grab in Zagreb and a good old-fashioned 5-1 hiding at home as spread buyers of Three Lions’ total goals spread were left thinking ‘with games like these who needs friendlies?’.
Sporting Index’s total goals spread buyers who keep the faith for the Belarus game will feel safe in the knowledge England have averaged just under three goals-a-game in Group Six. And, if that wasn’t enough for spread sellers to be cautious, then they’ll remember that two from Wayne Rooney and another from fellow Scouser Steven Gerrard helped their side breach the Belarusian goalkeeper’s net three times in Minsk. Meanwhile, buyers of England’s win index spread will be hoping for a continuation of the form that’s returned a profit each time at home with Wembley witnessing 4.5 goals-a-game on average along the way.
England’s comfortable 3-1 victory last time out is the only previous meeting to date so many Sporting Index football traders will find the Eastern Europeans unfamiliar opposition. They have, though, victories under their belt against Wales and Scotland and one man known well to spread punters on the Premier League and Champions League. Former Arsenal midfielder Alexander Hleb has returned to Stuttgart, via Barcelona, and is his country’s most recognisable player. Buyers of his goal minutes spread market will be looking for him to add to the six he has netted from just over half a century of caps.
Should all of England’s big boys make it through Ukraine unscathed then they can expect a Wembley turn-out too, with Capello proving, thus far, that he likes to stick to what he knows best. While he may look to get experimental in the World Cup warm-ups, the likes of Lampard and Gerrard can expect to gain another notch on their international bedposts, which should appeal to spread buyers of England’s supremacy and match performance index against a side ranked 77th in the world by FIFA.
Wayne Rooney may be out of the Belarus game but Frank Lampard, the only other ever-present in 2010 qualifiers, will be hoping to complete the sequence with an outing in the last game against Belarus. Between the two, they’ve both proved reliable scorers for buyers of their individual goals spreads – having contributed 12 between them, with eight from Rooney and four from Lampard.
You can check out all of our predictions on this week’s Soccerlens Podcast before making your picks on this weekend’s football games with Sporting Index – and winning a free £200 bet!
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