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England play host to Montenegro this Thursday in their penultimate fixture of Group A in the qualifiers for UEFA Euro 2020. After a largely successful campaign, Gareth Southgate’s side need just one more point to secure their qualification for next summer’s tournament.
The best that Montenegro can hope for, meanwhile, is to play spoiler to England’s hopes. They’ve already played 7 of their 8 fixtures and sit in 4th place in the group, on equal footing with bottom-placed Bulgaria and 8 points adrift of 3rd placed Kosovo.
Last time these two sides met was in March in Podgorica, and the game ended 1-5 to England despite Montenegro taking an early lead through Marko Vesovic, with Michael Keane, Ross Barkley, Harry Kane and Raheem Sterling all finding the net.
Since then, England have defeated Kosovo and Bulgaria twice while suffering a disappointing loss to the Czech Republic, while Montenegro have picked up two draws – against Kosovo and Bulgaria – and have lost three matches, two against the Czechs and the other in Kosovo.
Venue and Kickoff Information
Venue: Wembley Stadium, London
Date: November 14th, 2019
Kickoff: 19:45pm (local time)
England vs Montenegro Head-to-Head
England have played Montenegro just five times in the past; they drew with them twice during the qualifying campaign for Euro 2012, and then drew in Podgorica in a World Cup 2014 qualifier before finally defeating them at Wembley in the return match. Their 1-5 victory this past March was their heaviest win over Montenegro – giving England a healthy record of 12 goals scored to just 5 conceded.
England vs Montenegro Form Guide
England: D-W-W-L-W
Montenegro: L-W-L-D-L
Did you know?
England have scored 26 goals in this qualifying campaign; more than any other side outside of Russia and Belgium – who have played two more games than the Three Lions.
Despite not being bottom of the group, Montenegro are the only team in Group A who cannot qualify for Euro 2020, as bottom-placed Bulgaria may make the play-offs due to permutations from the 2018/19 edition of the UEFA Nations League.
England vs Montenegro Betting odds
England to win: 1/16
Montenegro to win: 28/1
Draw: 11/1
Bookmaker: SkyBet
England vs Montenegro Predicted Lineup
England (4-3-3): Jordan Pickford, Kieran Trippier, Harry Maguire, Fikayo Tomori, Ben Chilwell, Fabian Delph, Harry Winks, James Maddison, Jadon Sancho, Harry Kane, Marcus Rashford
Montenegro (4-4-2): Danijel Petkovic, Momcilo Raspopovic, Marko Simic, Boris Kopitovic, Risto Radunovic, Marko Vesovic, Nikola Vukcevic, Dusan Lagator, Aleksandar Boljevic, Stefan Mugosa, Fatos Beciraj
England vs Montenegro Prediction
If England play to their potential, as they did against Bulgaria in October, this ought to be a one-sided game. Montenegro folded in the face of England’s attack in March and that was in their own stadium; at Wembley it’s hard to imagine them putting up much resistance against Harry Kane, Marcus Rashford and company.
Final score: England 5-0 Montenegro
