27th Jun 2018 | World Cup
Handbrake Off
Who knows what players will start for either side or who will be most motivated. But dead rubbers can be lively affairs.
There’s a risk we could end up looking foolish but there’s no particularly good reason why two already qualified sides should play out a dull encounter.
England and Belgium have both progressed through Group G with relative ease and their two matches have produced 10 goals in total. That average of 5 per fixture could continue and we get whopping best odds of 9/1 on over 4.5 goals in Thursday’s showdown with Ladbrokes.
Cynics will say that Tunisia and Panama’s deficiencies created the fireworks but Martinez and Southgate’s sides both looked better at attacking than defending. Changes in personnel may reduce the clinical thinking but then again it could lead to yet more mistakes at the back.
At a big price it’s worth the risk.
Odds correct at time of publishing: 23:28 27th Jun, 2018 but subject to change