England v Albania betting tips: Three Lions look to close on Qatar
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England v Albania betting tips and odds
England need four points from their last two qualifiers against Albania and San Marino to secure their place at he 2022 World Cup but three points are the minimum for Gareth Southgate’s side at Wembley on Friday.
Arsenal midfielder Emile Smith Rowe received his first senior call-up after four players did not report for duty with England, who are 2/15 favourites to beat the Albanians as they did in March.
The Three Lions have a perfect record against Thursday’s opponents, so let’s look at some of the other options in our England v Albania betting tips.
Match Odds
Hungary provided Southgate with a warning sign in England’s last qualifier as a 1-1 draw at Wembley left the hosts with work to do this week.
England ran out 4-0 winners in Budapest, so they cannot afford to be complacent having beaten Albania 2-0 in Tirana.
The Euro 2020 runners-up are just 1/2 to win to nil for a sixth time in qualifying and 4/7 to be ahead at half-time and full-time but the odds are bigger at 11/10 if backing England to win both halves as they did in the first game.
👋 @JackGrealish pic.twitter.com/0MrOIItaNS
— England (@England) November 8, 2021
In our #GetAPrice section, the Three Lions are 11/5 to win both halves, over 2.5 goals in the match and keep a clean sheet in our England v Albania betting tips which would cover potential 3-0 and 4-0 victories.
England have won four of their five matches against the Albanians by two-goal margins and are 13/5 to do so again and with three of those wins coming by 2-0 scorelines, we go 19/5 on a recurrence of that outcome.
Significantly, Albania lost 4-1 at England’s main rivals Poland over two months ago and the hosts to win by at least three goals is available at 6/5.
Talking Tactics
Southgate began his preparations for Friday’s match with just 22 players following the withdrawals of Marcus Rashford, Luke Shaw, James Ward-Prowse and Mason Mount, although Smith Rowe was drafted in from the Under-21 squad.
England went with a 4-3-3 formation in the Albanian capital in which Harry Kane was supported by Phil Foden and Raheem Sterling in attack with Kalvin Phillips in central midfield flanked by Declan Rice and Mount.
👔 What did Gareth Southgate make of @England’s win in Albania?
Here’s the boss on…
◾️ What pleased him in Tirana
◾️ How Mount and Foden impressed
◾️ The areas England need to improve in#ITVFootball | #ThreeLions pic.twitter.com/4eGHTYR0k3— ITV Football (@itvfootball) March 28, 2021
Southgate’s plan to play five attack-minded players backfired against Hungary in which Kane, Sterling, Jack Grealish, Foden and Mount all started, so he must decide whether to revert to a 4-2-3-1 bearing in mind Rice has withdraw from the squad because of illness.
Albania went with a 4-3-3 for the 1-0 defeat by Poland which was halted for 20 minutes after home fans threw objects at the visiting players.
Goalscorer Odds
Kane may be struggling for goals in the Premier League but the England captain is 2/1 to break the deadlock as he did in Albania and in both matches against Poland.
Raheem Sterling may not be a regular starter for Manchester City this season but he has started all of England’s significant games in qualifying and is 7/2 to get the opening goal and 23/20 to find the net.
Foden is 6/1 and 6/4 in the two options, Grealish can be backed at 13/2 and 9/4 while John Stones is 20/1 to open the scoring as he did against Hungary or 13/2 in the anytime market in our England v Albania betting tips.
For Albania , Southampton’s on-loan Chelsea striker Armando Broja, Myrto Uzuni and Sokol Cikalleshi are all 20/1 and 13/2 in the two markets.
Match Info
Where: Wembley Stadium
When: 19:45, Friday 12th November
How to watch: ITV
All odds and markets correct as of date of publication
