England v Montenegro, 7.45pm Thursday 14th November
Gareth Southgate won 57 caps for England, an admirable tally considering his competition in central defence throughout his career. It's the exact same number of appearances as England legends like Paul Gascoigne and Jimmy Greaves but less than the likes of Emile Heskey, Phil Neville and Gary Cahill.
If he were playing nowadays the England manager would surely garner dozens more, considering the paucity of options in central defence for England. It's one of the only areas of concern for the coach in a Euro 2025 campaign that's gone mostly to plan, apart from the 2-1 defeat to the Czech Republic last month.
Six goals conceded in six qualifiers isn't exactly the end of the world but players like John Stones, Michael Keane and even the world's most expensive defender, Harry Maguire, are always liable to make individual errors against even the most modest of opponents.
As such, we fancy Montenegro to score at Wembley on Wednesday for England's 1000th men's senior international, and both teams to score is available at a rather enticing 19/10. Add in an almost certain home win and it brings it up to 12/5.
The visitors were hammered by Southgate's side 5-1 in Podgorica back in March but did open the scoring. Kosovo also got an opener before falling to defeat in September against an English side prone to lapses in concentration in the opening stages. The Czechs also scored inside ten minutes in that aforementioned win in Prague. With the above in mind, 13/2 for Montenegro to score first and both teams to score in the first half at 6/1 are both worth considering.
It should be another routine home win, even without Raheem Sterling, and a repeat of that 5-1 scoreline from eight months ago is an attractive 20/1. We actually fancy a more comprehensive win in this one and a 6-1 victory, for example, is a whopping 45/1.
England have netted 26 goals in their first six qualifiers and Over 5.5 Goals here is 4/1 and is definitely worth pondering.
As regards the starting XI for this historic occasion, Ross Barkley's withdrawal through injury may open the door for an international debut for the in-form Leicester City star James Maddison – despite his off-field transgressions during the last international break. The midfielder is a best price of 12/5 to find the net, but hold off on that one until the starting line-ups are announced.
Another player in a rich vein of form is Marcus Rashford, who opened the scoring against Bulgaria last month. The Man United striker is 4/1 with Bet365 to repeat that feat and net the opening goal again, or 4/5 to score at anytime.
Of course, Harry Kane is always worth backing on international duty particularly when you consider his haul of six goals in his last four matches. The Spurs forward is 9/4 to get the first goal and an understandably low 2/5 to score at anytime. Half of those six goals have been penalties and England to score from a spot kick on Wednesday is a better value option at 15/8.
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