World Cup Qualifying: England v Malta Betting Tips

This match is certainly between two polar opposites. England should be qualifying from this group in first place, no questions asked, whilst anything better than a bottom place finish for Malta will be a miracle.

After the embarrassment that has gripped English football over the last couple of weeks, the actual game is back on the menu. Although new manager Gareth Southgate has said he expects this to be a tough game, that is hardly likely to be the case and it represents a nice easy introduction for the former Middlesbrough boss.

A number of usually important players have pulled out injured from this squad and so it allows a number of fringe players to stake a claim for more regular spots. Additionally, Southgate has promoted a couple of players from his England U21 side to the senior squad in Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard after recent good form for Manchester United.

The much debated (although needlessly so) captaincy will stay with Wayne Rooney, although Southgate has called for more leaders in the squad. Despite the fact the 30-year-old has been dropped by Manchester United recently due to lack of form, he is likely to play at Wembley on Saturday night – what position that will be in is still questionable.

With England likely to be camped in and around the Malta penalty area on Saturday, there should be plenty of opportunities for Rooney to strike goal-bound at will – no matter what position he plays. Furthermore, with this attacking play and likely clumsy Maltese defending, Rooney is bound to have an opportunity to score from the spot. The odds on Rooney to score two or more, at 2/1, look a decent bet. The man with the armband isn’t likely to get many better opportunities to register a few goals and, let’s face it, he could do with them.

Malta did manage to score against Scotland (as I tipped) but still succumbed to a 5-1 defeat by the Tartan Army. Going away to England, no matter what sort of state English football is in, is a tough ask and they will, undoubtedly, just try to not get a hiding at Wembley. The Maltese have only won two away World Cup qualifiers (against Estonia and Armenia) since 1972 – I cannot see that changing here. Although, Malta did manage to score against England (albeit an own goal) during a friendly 16 years ago – in which current England manager Gareth Southgate came on as a substitute.

With England being such heavy favourites, this match is all about playing the markets right. Goals are an obvious way to go here but even they are priced out a bit. Having said this, ‘England to Score Over 4.5’ is certainly worth a go. If England want to then they should, realistically, he able to notch up a fair few here. 

Goalscorers is probably another good market to look at. However, with many goal-scoring opportunities likely to present themselves to England, a few usually unlikely goalscorers could find themselves on the score-sheet. One of these could be Eric Dier – who will likely play as the single holding midfielder but with license to get forward. With corners likely to be coming a regular occurences, Dier could find himself with several opportunities to attack the ball aerially inside the Maltese penalty area. Additionally, Dier was perhaps the only player to come out with an ounce of credit from the disastrous Euro 2016 campaign,. The young midfielder has shown he can take a good free kick (against Russia at the Euros) and is a handful in the box off set pieces (friendly away in Germany in March). At 11/2, the Tottenham man is well worth a go here.

For more World Cup Qualifier tips click here.