England v Mexico: Betting Preview & Tips

England v Mexico

With the football season drawing to its close with just a couple of play-off matches to be played, so international football comes into it’s own and preparations for this summer’s World Cup are in full flow for most participating countries. And for England, their preparations pair them against Mexico on the bobbly turf of Wembley Stadium on Monday evening.

You would expect England to triumph in their last game on home soil before to depart for South Africa (via a game with Japan in Austria on May 30th). And a price of 1/2 (Ladbrokes) suggest that the bookmakers can only see one outcome too.

But it is a strong Mexican team that opposes the Three Lions, who have themselves qualified for the World Cup and include some familiar faces. Arsenal’s Carlos Vela, West Ham’s Guillermo Franco and Tottenham’s Giovani dos Santos provide dangerous attacking threats while there will also be an opportunity for Manchester United fans to view their new signing Javier Hernandez up against new team-mate Rio Ferdinand.

It should be a good test for the England team as they look to give the home supporters a happy Mexican wave before they leave to try and lift the World Cup for the first time since 1966.

Fabio Capello has named a provisional 30-man squad ahead of the tournament, and you would imagine that the majority, if not all, of those players will feature in some part during the two upcoming friendlies.

That all makes for an extremely unpredictable starting line-up, which makes selecting a first goalscorer very difficult indeed. Fringe players will be looking to stake their claim for a place on the plane to South Africa, and that could be where a potential candidate could come from. Darren Bent at 6/1 (Coral) and Joe Cole at 12/1 (Coral) will be looking to impress the Italian supremo and what better way to do that than with a goal.

Top tips:

• HT/FT – Draw/England – 7/2 (Ladbrokes)
• England to win 3-1 – 14/1 (SkyBet)

Selectabet Offers:

• Open an account at Bet365 and claim £100 in free bets
• Open an account at Betfair and claim £25 in free bets
• Open an account at Paddy Power and claim £25 in free bets