So as usual, it's come down to the last two qualifiers before we can really be sure that England will qualify for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
England top Group H by one point at the minute, and face two of the toughest teams in the group in their bid to qualify: Montenegro and Poland. Our closest rivals, Ukraine, face Poland (a potential banana skin) and San Marino (an almost-certain whitewashing).
As ever, watching England in these two games is sure to be a nervous, uninspiring, awful affair. Or maybe we're being too harsh...
England Expects...
Don't we ever. With a team containing talented players hailing from the 'best league in the world', how are we not streaking ahead in the qualifying? Cautious tactics, too many draws, and a lack of firepower haven't helped matters.
Yet we are still odds-on to qualify. Paddy Power are offering 1/8 on us qualifying, while William Hill are touting us at 7/1 not to get through. England expects indeed.
Eastern promises?
That's not to say we will qualify automatically however. Montenegro face us and Moldova in their final two fixtures and if they get a good result against us (another draw? Possibly) they could easily slip into the automatic qualification driving seat.Likewise, if Ukraine beat Poland they face a very easy task in beating San Marino to top the group.
Poland face the hardest task to gain automatic qualification. They need wins against Ukraine and England and other results to go their way. Still, stranger things have happened in football.
Put simply, England must win their final two group games to be certain of topping the group.
England are 2/5 with Stan James to top the group. Ukraine are 11/4 with Bet365, Montenegro are 16/1 with BetVictor, and Poland are 66/1 with SkyBet. Lucrative.
England Vs Montenegro
Friday 11th October: 8pm
England are 2/5 with Coral to win at Wembley on Friday night. Montenegro are not easy opponents however. England have never beaten them in three attempts. They are 13/2 with Unibet to triumph over England on Friday, while the draw is 7/2 with Ladbrokes.
We are patriotic (and stupid?) so we think England will win this one. It will be tight though, maybe by just the one goal. The England win by one goal is 13/5 with Ladbrokes.
Sturr-t me up
We fancy a Daniel Sturridge first goal for this one, which is a cheeky 10/3 with BetVictor. The Liverpool man is in red-hot form for club, and if he could translate this to country, England would be laughing.
Half Time/Full Time of Draw/England looks good as well. Hopefully England's home advantage will spur them on in the second half to get the win we need. BetVictor have a very nice 16/5 on this if you're quick: odds are shortening as you read this.
Nervy night as both teams look for goals
Finally, we like the look of Unibet's 11/10 offer of Both Teams to Score. The Montenegrins have a very good strikeforce, and haven't found scoring against England a problem in recent years. One might say the only thing we need to worry about it England making sure they get a goal...
Check out our Free Bets page to take advantge of some of these tips. Who knows, it might make watching England more bearable...
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Click to ClaimSam publishes regular feature and tips pieces for Howtobet4free. He has a blog, crackingjabulanis.blogspot.co.uk, and can be found on Twitter by following @Gaytski.
