The first set of matches in the FIFA World Cup European Qualifiers for this international break conclude with a bumper day of action on Saturday as we head closer to finding out who will be going to Qatar next year.
We saw some excellent football to kick off this international window on Friday evening and when you look at the cast for the action on Saturday we should get a lot more decent action across three different kick off times.
Group A
The leaders Portugal are not in action on Saturday so Serbia have the chance to move to the top of the group and put the pressure on the former European champions. They make the trip to Luxembourg in the later of the two matches to take place. The first one comes in one of the earlier matches in the group where the Republic of Ireland travel to Azerbaijan looking for their first win of what has been a pretty terrible qualifying campaign to date.
Group B
With Spain away at the UEFA Nations League finals, Sweden have the chance to go above them in the Group B table over the course of this international break, if they can win both of their matches and the first of those comes along on Saturday afternoon when they play host to Kosovo in Solna. The other match in the group doesn’t carry quite as much importance as Georgia welcome Greece in a match between two sides whose campaign isn’t really going anywhere.
Group C
The leaders Italy aren’t in action in the World Cup qualifiers this month due to the UEFA Nations League finals which means the emphasis is on Switzerland to win both their matches and really close the gap on the European champions. The first of those comes along in the later of the two matches on Saturday when they play host to a Northern Ireland side who will move into second place should they come out on top in the match. This group actually kicks off the day when a Bulgaria side who still aren’t out of the reckoning head away to take on Lithuania.
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Group D
This is the group where France head the way and even though they are not in action in this international window because of their involvement in the UEFA Nations League finals, they are not going to be caught so the race for second place is in the spotlight. Ukraine have amazingly drawn all five of their matches so far and will be looking to snap that run in a positive sense when they go up against Finland in Helsinki. The other match in the group is the other very early kick off where Kazakhstan take on Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Group F
Group F looks like it will be a procession for Denmark and they will be aiming to move another step closer to qualifying for the World Cup when they take their perfect record to Chisinau to face Moldova. The big match in the group comes at Hampden Park though where the second and third placed sides meet when Scotland welcome Israel to Glasgow. The other match might yet still be relevant should Austria launch a huge run of form. They will be out to kick start that against the Faroe Islands.
Group I
England saw their perfect record go in injury time of their last match when they were held by Poland but they will be expected to get back onto the winning trail on Saturday evening when they go away to Andorra. With the draw between Poland and England in the last round of matches, Albania actually moved up into second spot and they will be looking to consolidate that position when they head to Budapest to take on Hungary. Poland look to have an easy assignment to open up this international break when they host San Marino in Warsaw.
Betting
England head out to Andorra on Saturday evening with the question really how many they will win by rather than whether or not they will win and with the Premier League in full force now and players fully tuned into their form I expect England to cover a three goal handicap line. I say that because this England side are really good and can focus purely on attacking here with little or no threat coming in the opposite direction.
Andorra will be utilising damage limitation mode from pretty early on this match and while the five substitutions allow them to do that a little better, it allows England to bring on some fresh, top quality attacking players and it is unlikely that Gareth Southgate won’t go to his bench after the fallout of the Poland game where he didn’t make a single substitution. The longer this one goes on the harder this is going to get for Andorra and if England are ruthless enough they should create more than enough chances to win this by at least four.
Tips
Back England (-3) to beat Andorra for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with Betfair
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