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England vs Australia betting tips, BuildABet, best bets and preview
- Michael Beardmore (@MickeyBeardmore) is 27.5pts up this season
Football betting tips: England vs Australia
1pt Draw HT/England FT at 13/4 (General)
0.5pt Harry Souttar 1+ shots on target at 7/1 (Betway)
Considering the storied sporting rivalries between the two countries, it’s pretty amazing that the Three Lions have only faced Australia seven times on a football pitch. They play them at cricket as many times as that in a year sometimes.
England have won four of those encounters, including the most recent meeting in May 2016 when Marcus Rashford and Wayne Rooney netted in a 2-1 win at Sunderland’s Stadium of Light.
But maybe the most memorable clash came 20 years ago when the Socceroos stunned a stacked England line-up – Ashley Cole, Gary Neville, Rio Ferdinand, Frank Lampard, David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Michael Owen et al – 3-1 at Upton Park.
So, any chance of a repeat at Wembley on Friday? Strewth cobber, don't be such a flaming galah...
What are the best bets?
England friendlies used to be something to dread but the introduction of the Nations League has made these meaningless matches far fewer and more tolerable - this is only the Three Lions' fourth friendly in the past two years.
They've won the other three - indeed, you have to go all the way back to March 2018 to find the last time England failed to win a friendly, a 1-1 draw with Italy, and even further, to June 2017, for their last friendly defeat, a 3-2 loss in France.
All signs, then, point to an England win - but the hosts are unbackably short in most markets. Basically, if you want to side with the Three Lions, you toss a coin between 'win to nil' at 5/6 and 'win and BTTS' at 9/4.
Obviously, the latter is best value considering England have conceded in wins over Scotland and Iran in the past year but they've also kept six clean sheets in the past nine.
Instead, I'm plumping for a bigger price on DRAW HT/ENGLAND FT at 13/4 in the belief boss Gareth Southgate will use this friendly to rotate and experiment.
Australia are no mugs - they beat Denmark at last year's World Cup, held Mexico in a recent friendly and should be able to keep this respectable at the least, hopefully until the second half when England bring on extra firepower.
While England's line-up will be tough to predict, we should see Australia go strong. This is actually their first ever game at Wembley, with their only two previous visits the aforementioned ones at Sunderland and West Ham.
That historic landmark could hopefully help land the headline bet given they will be playing for national pride even more so than normal but I also fancy Leicester centre-back HARRY SOUTTAR to have 1+ SHOTS ON TARGET at a tasty 7/1.
The big defender has seven goals in 17 caps for his country and while some of those are against lesser nations, he's a real set-piece threat at 6' 5'' - you can get 18s on him to score anytime but I'll take the 7s on Souttar just to trouble the keeper.
BuildABet @22/1
- Harry Souttar 1+ total shots
- Under 3.5 goals
- Half-time result: Draw
- Jarrod Bowen to score or assist
England won 3-1 in Scotland last month but they fielded a strong team at Hampden and prior to that, no Three Lions friendly in more than six years had featured more than three goals. They tend to do just enough against middling opposition.
Jarrod Bowen is almost assured to feature at some point after his recall to the squad and he has been on fire for West Ham this season, contributing five goals and two assists in his nine appearances.
Score prediction: England 2-0 Australia (Sky Bet odds: 9/2)
Team news
England will be without Bukayo Saka due to the leg injury that forced the Arsenal winger to miss the Gunners’ Premier League clash with Manchester City last weekend.
Southgate is expected to give some fringe players an opportunity in this friendly before resorting back to a more familiar line-up for the Euro 2024 qualifier against Italy on Tuesday.
Aaron Ramsdale, Jarrod Bowen, Ollie Watkins, Lewis Dunk and Marc Guehi will be among those hoping to add to their international caps while Eddie Nketiah and Levi Colwill could make their England debuts.
Australia’s former Kilmarnock, Ross County, Burton Albion, Hull City and Hibernian midfielder Jackson Irvine – now plying his trade for German side St Pauli – is fit after an ankle problem.
Leicester’s Harry Souttar, Ipswich duo Cameron Burgess and Massimo Luongo, and Middlesbrough pair Riley McGree and Samuel Silvera will hope to feature in their adopted country, while Hibs defender Lewis Miller could earn a debut.
Predicted line-ups
England: Ramsdale; Trippier, Tomori, Maguire, Colwill; Henderson, Phillips, Gallagher; Maddison, Watkins, Bowen.
Australia: Ryan; Behich, Souttar, Rowles, Burgess; Irvine, Baccus, Luongo, McGree; Boyle, Silvera.
Match facts
- England have only lost one of their seven previous matches against Australia (W4 D2), a 3-1 defeat at Upton Park in February 2003 with Francis Jeffers scoring in his only cap and Wayne Rooney making his debut that game.
- England and Australia will meet at Wembley for the very first time. Only two nations have ever beaten the Three Lions in their first game against them at the national stadium – Hungary in 1953 (6-3) and Sweden in 1959 (3-2).
- Australia last faced a European nation in a friendly in June 2018, beating Hungary 2-1. Indeed, the Socceroos have won their last two friendlies with European nations (also 4-0 versus Czechia), after losing nine of their previous 12 (W1 D2).
- England are unbeaten in their last 17 games in all competitions at Wembley (W13 D4) since a 1-0 defeat to Denmark in October 2020. It is their best unbeaten run there since going 24 without defeat between September 1984 and May 1990.
- Harry Kane has scored 22 goals in 31 England appearances at Wembley, just one behind the record set by Bobby Charlton, who scored 23 times in 44 games there between 1958 and 1970.
- Both Harry Kane (Bayern Munich) and Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid) scored in England’s last game against Scotland, but only one player has netted at Wembley this century while playing for a non-English team, with Jadon Sancho doing so in November 2020 against the Republic of Ireland while playing for Borussia Dortmund.
Odds correct at 1400 BST (11/10/23)
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