Wayne Rooney scored twice against Bulgaria
England v Wales takes place Tuesday night and England can seal qualification for Euro 2012 by beating Wales at Wembley.
Fabio Capello experimented with a new formation and some younger players against Bulgaria on Friday and the Italian was rewarded with one of the most impressive England performances in recent memory. The pace and width offered by Ashley Young, Stewart Downing and Theo Walcott, playing behind the outstanding Wayne Rooney, resulted in a 3-0 victory for the Three Lions, which was virtually flawless.
Capello would now be crazy to change his side and it should be the same eleven players that take to the pitch on Tuesday for the Euro 2012 qualifier with Wales and a similar performance will be expected. A win for England, at odds of 1/6 with
Stan James, will see them qualify for next summer's tournament in Ukraine and Poland and there is no reasons to believe that the hosts won't claim all three points at Wembley.
Wales, who can be backed at a massive 20/1 with
bet365 to upset the party, actually did England a favour on Friday evening. Their 2-1 win over Montenegro effectively ended Zlatko Kranjcar's side's chances of automatic qualification for Euro 2012 but that will make little difference when both sides take to the pitch on Tuesday. England were ruthless when beating Wales 2-0 at the Millennium Stadium in March and they will be looking for a similar result at Wembley.
The hosts may, in fact, be able to win by more than that on Tuesday night and odds of 23/20 (
bet365) that England win by at least three goals are very tempting. Craig Bellamy and Gareth Bale aside, Wales lack the quality to really trouble England and Gareth Barry and Scott Parker should win the midfield battle, thus cutting off the supply to the Liverpool and Tottenham stars. That will mean that the hosts dominate possession, as they did in Cardiff, and Rooney can expect to see plenty of the ball in attack.
The Manchester United striker is arguably the world's best player on current form and he is proving unplayable for both club and country. He scored twice against Bulgaria and it would be something of a shock if he wasn't on the scoresheet on Tuesday. He seems to revel in the responsibility of being the senior attacking player in the squad and his link up play with the very impressive Young and Walcott was fantastic. If those three stay fit then England can feel not just positive about their chances of beating Wales but also of being very successful in Poland and Ukraine next summer.
Recommendation
Match Handicap (-2.5 Goals) - England (23/20,
bet365)