The final three groups play their second match in the European Qualifiers for World Cup 2018 on Saturday and there are a couple of British sides in action to strengthen the attention while the defending champions Germany are also among the 18 teams playing on what is another busy night of action.
Group C
There is an early kick off in each group that is in action on Saturday and the first game to begin in this one is the match between Azerbaijan and Norway. Later in the evening the world champions Germany host the Czech Republic while Northern Ireland will be looking to bump up the goal difference when San Marino are the visitors to Windsor Park.
Group E
Two early kick offs in this group see Armenia hosting Euro2016 finalists Romania and Montenegro welcoming Kazakhstan for a clash between potentially the two worst sides in the group. Without doubt the match of the day in this group should be worth waiting for when Poland play Denmark in the later kick off.
Group F
All eyes will be on Wembley Stadium to begin with as England begin life after Sam Allardyce when they host Malta. Gareth Southgate’s side will be expected to win and win big there. Later in the evening Gordon Strachan’s Scotland will be looking for back to back wins to begin their campaign when they host Lithuania while Slovenia host Slovakia in the other match.
Betting
I’m sticking with the British sides for betting here. I like the look of both England and Scotland to cover handicaps. In theory you could argue that a -4 Asian line on England is big with all they have going on but I fancy the players will feel they have a point to prove and I’ve been really impressed with Gareth Southgate in the build up to this match.
He will have coached a number of these players with the Under 21s where he has had plenty of success and this is a great first game for him as Scotland have just put five past Malta. Going back a little further they lost 6-0 to the Czech Republic in a warm up for Euro2016. Having had two players sent off against Scotland, Malta won’t be at full strength so England should take care of them and win this easily. Once the dam is burst in terms of scoring the floodgates should open.
Scotland face stiffer opposition in the form of Lithuania but I don’t think they will provide enough of a test for the Tartan Army. Scotland have improved immensely under Strachan and tend to take care of inferior opposition fairly ruthlessly these days as they showed in Malta last month.
A couple of the Lithuanians will know all about Scotland from their time with Hearts but we’re talking about a side who lost to Latvia as recently as June. They shocked everyone when they took a 2-0 lead against Slovenia in their opening qualifier but I don’t expect Scotland to fall into that trap and I’m expecting a comfortable home win here.
Tips
Back England (-4AH) to beat Malta for a 4/10 stake at 1.93 with Bet365
Back them here:
Back Scotland (-1AH) to beat Lithuania for a 4/10 stake at 1.81 with Unibet
Back them here:
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