Saturday 2nd June 2018
England v Nigeria 17:15
The build-up for the 2018 Russia World Cup gets started this week with most of the teams in action as they look to polish off their finishing touches before the tournament starts on June 14th.
A lot of interesting clashes but the England vs Nigeria encounter at Wembley on Saturday 2nd June catches the eye.
England can be backed at around 19.00 in the World Cup outright market, with Nigeria a massive 201.00, but we’ll get a chance to see just how accurate those prices are here.
England will be expected to get out of their Group G with Belgium, Tunisia and Panama to play – they are 2.20 to top the group or 1.12 to qualify for the knockout stages. However, Nigeria might struggle with Argentina, Croatia and Iceland in their Group (D) – that is reflected in the betting being 11.00 to win the group, or 3.25 to qualify.
The FIFA World Rankings see England in 13th, while Nigeria are back in 47th so there are 34 places between the two. The match betting ahead of Saturday’s friendly reflects this with England on offer at just 1.40, with the Draw 4.20 and Nigeria 9.00.
What do the stats say? The sides have only met twice before and those came back in 2002 and 1994 so not much to go on. England won one 1-0 and the other ended in a 0-0 draw – so both low-scoring affairs and as you can see Nigeria are yet to score against the Three Lions.
So, it might pay to, instead, look at recent matches the sides have played in. England come into the game having lost just one of their last 11, while Southgate’s men have conceded only one goal in their last 6 games. In recent games they’ve also help two of the World Cup fancies – Brazil and Germany – to 0-0 draws so have shown they can still mix it with the best of them.
Nigeria don’t have a bad recent record either. They’ve lost only one of their last 7 games, with two of their last 5 being draws.
Can We Expect Goals? If recent games are anything to go by then probably not. As mentioned England have let in just one goal in their last 6 games, while ALL of England’s last 6 games went UNDER 2.5 GOALS.
With 4 of Nigeria’s last 5 games also seeing UNDER 2.5 GOALS then at 1.75 this looks a fair option. We can expect both sides to do a fair amount of tinkering, but we can also expect the player to not be taking too many risks with one eye on not sustaining any injures this close to the World Cup.
In terms of players to look out for. Chelsea’s Victor Moses has netted 11 times for Nigeria and is sure to play a part, while their CSKA Moscow forward – Ahmed Musa – is another to look for in terms of scoring.
For England, it goes without saying their newly-named captain – Harry Kane – is their main man in front of goal. He’s bagged 12 England goals, while Danny Wellbeck (15) and Jamie Vardy (7) are others to note.
BEST BET: UNDER 2.5 GOALS @1.75
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Saturday 2nd June 2018
England v Nigeria 17:15
- Only played twice before, Nigeria 0-0 England (2002), England 1-0 Nigeria (1994)
- FIFA Rankings: England 13, Nigeria 47
- Both previous head-to-heads went UNDER 1.5 GOALS
- Both teams didn’t score in the previous head-to-heads
- Nigeria have never scored against England
- England’s last 6 games all went UNDER 2.5 GOALS
- England have conceded just 1 goal in their last 6 games
- Both teams didn’t score in 5 of England’s last 6 games
- 3 of England’s last 4 games ended in DRAWS
- England have lost just 1 of their last 11 games
- Nigeria have lost just 1 of their last 7 games
- 4 of Nigeria’s last 5 games went UNDER 2.5 GOALS
- Nigeria have drawn 2 of their last 5 games