Back both teams to score and a narrow win for England in Montenegro

 

After England made short work of San Marino, they now travel on to Montenegro to contest what looks like a far trickier encounter. Luke Moore takes a look...

In a job well done against the part-timers of San Marino, England accounted for Friday night's opponents with minimal fuss and now look ahead to Tuesday night's showdown with a far more dangerous foe.

 

Roy Hodgson's men remain two points behind Montenegro, who secured a 0-1 win over Moldova in pretty trying circumstances after being reduced to ten men when midfielder Milorad Pekovic was dismissed. The scorer of that winner was Juventus' Mirko Vucinic, a striker of decent pedigree whose time at Juventus was preceded by five seasons at Roma, the last of which convinced the Old Lady to part with 15m Euros for his services. His goalscoring record almost touches one in two and he will be ably aided and abetted by Fiorentina's Stevan Jovetic, one of Serie A's superstar performers who is perfectly capable of putting England's backline to the sword on his day.

 

Montenegro were drawn in the same qualifying group as England for Euro 2012 and England failed to beat them both home and away. A 0-0 draw at Wembley was followed by a stalemate in Podgorica as the Three Lions were pegged back after going 0-2 ahead, the game eventually finishing 2-2 after Wayne Rooney's petulant sending off was followed by an injury time equaliser from Rayo Vallecano's Andrija Delibasic.

 

England only needed a point from that final game to progress to Euro 2012, but they will certainly need more than that on Tuesday. I think a confident England have enough to overcome a pretty handy Montenegrin side, but a loss of personnel at the back is a concern. The aforementioned Vucinic and Jovetic can threaten a centre back pairing of Lescott and Smalling, who have just 20 Premier League starts between them this season. Indeed, San Marino presented the first time they had ever played together, so the midfield players selected in front of them will need to take responsibility for forwards dropping deep. The recall of captain Steven Gerrard will be a boost, as these days he eschews the lung-busting box to box bluster of yesteryear and looks to dictate play from deeper while providing an outlet for the inexperienced centre halves.

 

The team Hodgson selects must maintain their focus and discipline for this game. It wouldn't be surprising to see Danny Welbeck recalled to run the channels, hold the ball up and add more frontline energy to the side, something he does with aplomb at Manchester United. With him as a busy out ball, he can bring others into play and England can look to hurt Montenegro that way.

 

Recommended Bet

England look a bit short at 1.82 to win in Podgorica; Branko Brnovic has built a capable team around two match-winners in the shape of Jovetic and Vucinic who could certainly stop England, especially at home. I'd much rather go for both teams to score, which is currently trading at 2.07. I think England will nick it, probably 1-2 or 1-3, and if you're feeling brave, prices for that are 10.0 and 19.5 respectively.

 

Bet HERE

 

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