England v Macedonia Match Programme || Back England To Be Uninspiring

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ENGLAND v MACEDONIA - BACK ENGLAND TO BE UNINSPIRING

England are predictably as short as 1/20 to see off Macedonia in their Euro 2008 qualifier on Saturday - a price well short enough to put even the biggest hitters off.

England are expected to win comfortably, and they should, but as usual with England in the qualifiers, the best policy is to find a bet where they win but ultimately under-perform.

4-0 and 5-0 wins over Greece and Andorra early in McClaren's reign as boss suggested the shackles from the Sven-Goran Eriksson era had been shaken off, but the scrappy 1-0 win over this weekend's opponents last time out was an all too familiar story - job done, unspectacularly.

There is nothing wrong with being professional in their approach, and we can use it to our advantage knowing that if England go 1-0 or 2-0 up, they aren't going to be all gung-ho looking for more goals.

With Wayne Rooney yet to find his scoring touch and Peter Crouch in and out of the Liverpool side, a low scoring England win looks as safe as ever.

Ladbrokes go 9/1 on a 1-0 win for our boys, and you can get 11/2 on the 2-0 result at Bet365 and Victor Chandler.

Those two coupled looks the way to go.

The Republic of Ireland, a little unlucky to lose their opening qualifier in Germany, can make amends against Cyprus.

Steve Staunton's men fell to a deflected Lukas Podolski free-kick in Berlin, when perhaps they deserved to come away with a point.

The Cypriots' limitations were severely exposed in Slovakia where they were on the end of a 6-1 hiding.

They can be trusted to be more competent at home however, where they rarely receive similar thrashings.

The Republic were grateful for a 1-0 win the last time they played there - in last year's World Cup Qualifier and they can be backed at 6/1 (Bet365) to win by the same scoreline.

I'm always wary of backing France at odds-on away from home, they have still to convince they are good enough to score against stout teams who are difficult to break down despite their world-class attacking options and they have been a real coupon buster in the past (1-1 away at Israel).

However, since when have Scotland been difficult to break down?

Don't be fooled by the supposed renaissance under Walter Smith. They have won the two-bob Kirin Cup and beaten only Lithuania and the Faroe Islands in the qualifiers.

It's a struggle to find any bets to recommend, as I couldn't bring myself to lump on France at the prices. Even against Scotland.

This game is perhaps best left alone from a punting perspective.

John Toshack is beset by injury problems as Wales look for their first point of their Euro 2008 qualifying campaign.

Mark Delaney, Sam Ricketts and Carl Fletcher are all missing through injury, as is star player Ryan Giggs.

Craig Bellamy, struggling for form at new club Liverpool, is the controversial choice as stand-in captain - especially as the fiery striker is due in court in-between Euro qualifiers for alleged assault.

Indeed, it would be a brave man who backed the Welsh to triumph over Slovakia at a best-priced 6/4.

With an out-of-form Bellamy leading the attack, and the lack of the obviously influential Giggs pulling the strings, there will be limited opportunities for a Welsh goal.

And with Slovakia reeling from their 3-0 home defeat to the Czech Republic, both sides will see this as chance to get at least a point in a tough group that also contains Germany and the Republic of Ireland.

I expect this to be a tight game of few chances, and both teams could end this game fairly happy with a point a-piece.

I wouldn't put anyone off going under 2.5 total goals at 4/5 with Bet365. However, I feel the better bet could be with Sporting Odds who offer 7/1 on no goalscorer.

Northern Ireland go into their game against Denmark on the back of an incredible 3-2 result against Spain, achieved exactly a year after their 1-0 win over England.

They are certainly capable of pulling off a shock, but both those results were at home and Denmark should have no trouble in securing the three points up for grabs.

Northern Ireland are 18/1 to triumph in Denmark with Bet365, who also go 12/1 on David Healy scoring the first goal.

However, I can't see anything other than a comfortable Danish win, and at odds of 1/5, even a hefty wager would hardly bring home the bacon, and this game is easily best left alone.

By Bettingzone.co.uk
Used with permission.

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