Kosovo vs England Preview

November 16, 2019
By: Daniel Orme

England round off their UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying campaign on Sunday evening as they take on Kosovo in Pristina.

Gareth Southgate’s Three Lions have already secured their qualification for next summer’s tournament having won Group A with their 7-0 thumping of Montenegro at Wembley. Meanwhile, Kosovo have unfortunately fallen short of booking an automatic spot at their first major tournament as an independent nation, currently sitting four points behind runners-up Czech Republic. However, they are assured of a play-off place.

With that achievement, the hosts have been one of the surprise packages throughout qualification having racked up three wins on seven games. As a matter of fact, they also gave England a considerable scare as the two sides clashed in September. Taking place at St Mary’s, the Three Lions raced into a 5-1 lead before half-time but then surrendered two late strikes to make it an uncomfortable end to the match. Once again, Southgate’s troops are favourites to notch three points and can be backed at a price of 1/2 with William Hill. A draw sits at 17/5, with Kosovo not much fancied to get a result, sitting way behind at odds of 5/1.

Ahead of the match, it could be a clever option to bet on there being goals in the game. Both England and Kosovo are two of the highest scorers in Group A of qualifying having plundered 46 goals between them throughout the campaign. That was very well summed up in the game between the two, with eight being scored between them. Over 4.5 goals to be scored in this match sits at 19/5 with Paddy Power.

For that to happen though, there needs to be regular goalscorers and that is what each team has. After netting a hat-trick last time out against Montenegro, Harry Kane surely has to be one of the prime candidates to open the scoring. The Tottenham Hotspur striker sits at 11/4 with Betfred to net the opener in Pristina. Should Kosovo take the lead as they did at St Mary’s, Elbasan Rashan is the favourite to do so and is at odds of 8/1.

The Three Lions will also have one of their main attacking threats back for this game. According to Southgate, Raheem Sterling will be drafted back into the starting 11 having missed out against Montenegro. Meanwhile, Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson could return from suspension. Danny Rose could also be called upon after fellow left-back Ben Chilwell massively impressed in the last match.

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