England can seal top spot in World Cup Qualifying Group F if they manage to beat second-placed Slovakia at Wembley on Monday evening. The Three Lions won the reverse fixture 1-0 but they needed a few amazing saves from Joe Hart and a stoppage-time goal from Adam Lallana to pull that off. Slovakia never managed to beat England and avoided defeat just once in the last five direct meetings. However, England never managed to beat Slovakia by more than one goal in competitive matches.
England grabbed a comfortable 4-0 victory in Malta on Friday, Harry Keane scored a double and Gareth Southgate's men preserved their spot at the top of Group F with a two-point advantage over Slovakia. Victory at Wembley Stadium would all but secure top spot for England with two games left in the campaign. Jordan Pickford and Kieran Trippier are unavailable for Monday's match due to injuries, but Eric Dier should come back into the first eleven after missing the match in Malta due to suspension.
Slovakia grabbed a vital win on Friday as they beat Slovenia 1-0 in Trnava thanks to a late goal from Adam Nemec. The result consolidated their second place and now they have a four-point advantage over both Slovenia and Scotland. They are in great form as they recovered after losing the first two matches of the campaign and recorded five consecutive wins since then. They will probably try to hang on to a draw at Wembley and maybe strike on a counter-attack to leapfrog England in top spot.
Probable line-ups:
England: Hart - Walker, Cahill, Jones, Bertrand - Dier, Henderson - Lingard, Alli, Rashford - Kane
Slovakia: Dubravka - Pekarik, Gyomber, Skriniar, Hubocan - Lobotka, Kucka - Mak, Hamsik, Weiss - Nemec
My prediction: England to win 1-0.
Here are the odds for the match at Bet365:
England win - 1.40
Draw - 4.50
Slovakia win - 11.00
Your feedback
Please enter your comment.
Your comment is added.
