Friday’s meeting between the two sides will be the first between England and the former Soviet Republic of Lithuania and with Roy Hodgson’s team in fine form at the minute; it may well be a long evening for the visiting team.
England have been rampant so far in qualifying with Switzerland brushed aside impressively as well as wins against Estonia, San Marino and Slovenia and they should make it five wins from five on Friday. Lithuania are one of three sides currently sitting on six points in the group after beating San Marino and Estonia and they are ranked 94th in the world, sandwiched between Benin and their Baltic neighbours Latvia.
Hodgson has picked a squad with few surprises with only Harry Kane and Danny Rose potentially in line to make their debuts after fine seasons with Tottenham Hotspur. Rose was called up to replace the injured Luke Shaw whilst Adam Lallana and Fraser Forster also miss out due to injury. Wayne Rooney will be expected to lead the line after his recent good run of form in a Three Lions shirt but Danny Welbeck and Kane up front, Hodgson has real options in attack despite the withdrawal from the squad of Danniel Sturridge
Deivydas Matulevičius will be Lithuania’s biggest threat in front of goal, but England should be more than capable of dealing with the Pandurii striker. Nuneaton Town fans will recognise the figure of Simonas Stankevičius who spent time on loan at Liberty Way earlier in the season although the 19-year-old has yet to score for his national side.
England v Lithuania Betting Tips
- England to win to nil – It would be foolhardy to bet against England at Wembley but best odds of 1/8 on the win outright with Betfred aren’t great so we’ve gone for the slightly better 2/5 on offer with Betfair on an England win to nil. They definitely have the quality to beat a side who have conceded six without reply in their last two Euro 2016 qualifying matches.
- Harry Kane to score last – Hodgson may not throw the Walthamstow-born forward into the starting XI but he could be tempted to bring the youngster off the bench to showcase his skills and the Premier League’s top scorer certainly has the potential to wreak havoc against what should be a tiring Lithuanian side. At 10/3 with BetVictor you can back him to round off the scoring.
- England to win by four or more goals – Switzerland beat Lithuania 4-0 in a recent qualifying match and we can’t see any reason why England can’t rack up a big scoreline against one of the weakest teams in the confederation at 16/5 with BetVictor.
- Wayne Rooney to score two or more goals – At 12/5 with BetVictor you can back the Manchester United hit man to bag two or more goals. Rooney has scored in five of England’s last six matches and with only three goals separating him from equalling Bobby Charlton’s total of 49 goals, he will be desperate to get his name on the scoresheet.