WEMBLEY has become a fortress for England under Gareth Southgate with that heart-breaking shoot-out loss to Italy in the Euro 2020 final their only defeat in the last 14 games at the stadium.
Switzerland became their latest victims in Saturday's friendly, bringing up a Slips Tips bet, and the Three Lions will be confident of chalking up another win when Ivory Coast come calling.
Their last nine home friendlies have all ended in victories and Southgate has turned England into a team that's incredibly hard to beat. He's blessed with arguably the greatest strength in depth of any England manager and can field two sides capable of holding their own against the best in Europe.
So while Southgate will ring the changes from Saturday's line-up, the players coming in for this clash will be just as good, if not better, than those they are replacing.
But Ivory Coast certainly won't be pushovers, having run France incredibly close last time out in Paris. Nicolas Pepe fired them ahead against the world champions and it took an injury-time goal from Aurelien Tchouameni for the French to sneak a 2-1 victory (below).
The Elephants have a squad packed with familiar faces and have the firepower to catch England off guard if the Three Lions allow complacency to sneak into their game.
Head to head
This is the first game between these nations but England have an impressive record against African opposition, going unbeaten in all 19 matches.
Players to watch
I tipped Jude Bellingham to score against the Swiss on Saturday only for Southgate to leave him sitting on the bench until the final 10 minutes. The Dortmund wonderkid has been under-used by England but should be some more game time here and is 5/1 at Ladbrokes for anytime scorer. It's often better backing him for an assist but I've yet to see that market priced up.
Wilf Zaha will be desperate to impress for Ivory Coast, having switched allegiance from England after repeated snubs for a competitive senior cap. The Crystal Palace star is 9/2 at Betfred for a goal and that could be worth a speculative punt.
Anything else catch the eye?
Friendlies are always hard to predict but I can see goals in this one as Ivory Coast have some serious firepower with the likes of Zaha, Pepe, Sebastian Haller and Maxwell Cornet in their ranks. Both teams to score is 22/19 with SBK while over 2.5 goals pays 10/11 at the same firm and evens with SkyBet.
There was a one-goal winning margin when both of these sides were last in action and backing a repeat here appeals at 8/5 with McBookie.
This International Friendly match between England and Ivory Coast will be played on Mar 29, 2022 and kick off at 19:45. Check below for our tipsters best England vs Ivory Coast prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
