ENGLAND can seal their passage to next winter's World Cup when they welcome Albania to Wembley on Friday night.
Qualifying for next year's showpiece reaches its conclusion in the current international break, with the Three Lions needing four points from their final two fixtures to stamp their ticket to Qatar.
Gareth Southgate's side are firmly in the driving seat in Group I, leading Poland by three points ahead of their double header with Albania and San Marino
That said, England had to settle for a point in their last home game – a 1-1 draw with Hungary – so Southgate will demand a response when Albania come calling on Friday night.
The Albanians have much work to do if they are to secure a spot at next year's World Cup following last month's damaging 1-0 defeat at home to Poland.
Edoardo Reja's side have a given account of themselves in Group I but it would take nothing short of a miracle for the Red and Blacks secure a top-two berth now.
Outright Betting
England have won 12 of their last 13 World Cup qualifiers on home soil and another Three Lions success heavily fancied at 1/8 with SBK.
Albania have slumped to defeat in each of the five previous meetings between the pair and the bookies odds suggest that sequence will continue, with an away win priced up at whopping 28/1 (SBK) while a share of the spoils pays 44/5 (SBK) with the same firm.
Betting Angles
You won't get rich backing England at the aforementioned odds, so it's therefore a case of having to get creative in order to eke out a backable price.
As such, I'll head to the Bet Builder market and merge over England half time/full time and under five match goals at 20/21 with Bet 365,
England are traditionally flat-track bullies when it comes to tackling these types of assignments, with the Three Lions losing just one of their last 55 matches in qualifying for either the Euros or World Cup, posting an impressive 43 wins in the process.
Sure, Southgate could be without as many as six players for Thursday's game who were originally called up to the squad, but the England boss has an awesome array of attacking talent at his disposal and his star-studded squad should have too much class for an Albania outfit entering last chance saloon territory.
That said, Southgate is a manager who is happy to sacrifice flair for success, so combining an England victory in a match that features fewer than five match goals makes plenty of appeal.
Eight of England's last nine competitive victories have gone under the 4.5 goal barrier and it may not be a rampant Wembley win on Friday night.
The Euro 2020 silver medallists have been leading at the interval before going on to bank three points in five of their six pool victories, so I'll round off the Bet Builder with England half time/full time.
What's more, the aforementioned combination clicked in the reverse fixture and I'm happy to support the same formula here on a night where the Three Lions should book their plane tickets to next year's tournament.
This World Cup match between England and Albania will be played on Nov 12, 2021 and kick off at 19:45. Check below for our tipsters best England vs Albania prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
