England v Holland Tip

With life after Capello beginning for England on Wednesday, the Dutch will come to Wembley to provide a stern test for caretaker boss Stuart Pearce.

With a new man in charge, the form book suddenly needs to be taken with a pinch of salt. The Three Lions, somewhat surprisingly, went the entirety of 2011 unbeaten and even defeated world champions Spain in a friendly last November. In fact, the last three England games at Wembley have ended in 1-0 home wins, but I think the Dutch are well capable of ending that run.

Bert van Marwijk’s side qualified for Euro 2012 in tremendous style, winning their first nine games, only slipping up in the final fixture against Sweden when the job was already done.  A 3-0 friendly defeat to Germany in the last outing will have served as a wake-up call and I would expect Holland to arrive in London with a renewed focus. The 2010 World Cup finalists still have a great deal of quality at their disposal.

This looks very much like the sort of game where performance will be regarded as more important than the outcome. On such occasions, draws are commonplace, and at 9/4 (Coral) that looks a sound bet.