England v Slovenia Betting Offers and Preview – 5th October 2017

England v Slovenia Tips and Betting Offers, Thursday 5th October, Wembley Stadium, Kick off: 19:45

It’s not quite been plain sailing for England during their qualifying campaign for the 2018 World Cup. The Three Lions have had to dig deep to avoid defeat at times while Sam Allardyce was sacked just one game into his tenure as national team manager. Thankfully, Gareth Southgate’s men have come through those difficulties and confirm their place in Russia by beating Slovenia when they meet at Wembley Stadium on Thursday evening.

Preview

England were made to work very hard by Slovenia when the two teams met in Ljubljana almost exactly a year ago. The home side held Southgate’s men to a goalless draw but that was the only time that Slovenia have avoided defeat in four games against England.

Slovenia manager Srečko Katanec knows that his team cannot afford another to slip back to their old ways against England as they trail second placed Slovakia by one point. They’ve got just two games to make up that gap and hopefully book a place in the playoffs.

The desperation for points means that Slovenia may need to employ a more attack minded strategy than they have so far on their travels. They’ve scored four goals in their four away qualifying games, a return that surely won’t be enough against England.

As well Harry Kane (arguably the most in form elite level striker in Europe) England have Raheem Sterling and Marcus Rashford looking to take their domestic form on to the international stage. The suspension of Dele Alli is an obstacle England must overcome but surely they’ve got enough about them to claim the win they need in front of their own fans.

Betting Verdict

The Wembley crowd were stunned into silence when Slovakia grabbed a shock early lead against England during the last international break. Southgate was happy with the manner of his team’s comeback that night but on Thursday he’ll be imploring them to keep things tighter at the back.

England know that a point will be enough for them if Scotland beat Slovakia so they are in no need of a flying start. It’s much more likely that England will look to keep the ball in the early stages, dictate the tempo and use their strength in midfield to create the sort of chances that their forwards thrive on.

Slovenia know they need to pick it up from an attacking perspective but they’ve shown little so far in qualification to suggest they’ll pose too much of a threat to England. Therefore, you can take more a risk than simply betting on England to win by taking the evens that BetVictor are quoting on the home side winning to nil.

As recently as year ago, Harry Kane still had some doubters as to his suitability to be England’s main option up front. Those doubts have evaporated to the extent that some believe his goalscoring prowess could fire England towards something special in the summer. Expect Kane to be the main man once again by scoring first on Thursday at 9/4 with Ladbrokes.