England's young lions to batter San Marino...again
One point from Qatar
Gareth Southgate's men need just a point to secure top spot and ultimately qualification to the Qatar 2022 World Cup on Monday. Taking on San Marino, the Three Lions are all-but qualified for the finals. In the reverse fixture, England strolled to a 5-0 win at Wembley back in March thanks to goals from James Ward-Prowse, Raheem Sterling, Ollie Watkins and a Dominic Calvert-Lewin brace maintained England's routine of battering the minnows in qualifiers for big tournaments. England have never failed to score less than six goals in each of their seven wins in this matchup, and with a record of 29 goals scored, shipping just three by comparison to the hosts who surprisingly mustered one goal scored and leaked a whopping 36 goals in their nine games. Southgate will hopefully look to use this game to give the likes of Emile Smith-Rowe and fellow new call-up Connor Gallagher their first full debut for the national side.
San Marino to fire another blank
Ranked 210th in the world, San Marino have been the resident piñata of world football for some time. Despite nearly getting a respectable 2-0 loss against Hungary on Friday. But in the last ten minutes they conceded twice to lose 2-0 in Budapest. They miraculously scored at home against Poland, with Nicola Nanni scoring early in the second half. Admittedly, they did lose 7-1 to the second place side in Group I. Averaging conceding four every game this group stage, England really should be looking to try and push double figures against San Marino on Monday.
Debate over San Marino and similar small nations even taking part in the qualifiers for major tournaments will continue, but for now, England need to get the job done very convincingly on Monday. That's why I'm backing England to score over 5.5 goals with bet365.
Post bet chat Archie's Tips:
Just the 10 for the Three Lions