Sports Blog 08/09/2015: UEFA Euro 2016 Qualifier Preview – England vs Switzerland, Tuesday 8th September 2015

England may have already become the first team to qualify for Euro 2016, but there is still plenty of reason to chase a 1st place-securing result over Switzerland tonight at 7.45pm on ITV.

A 6-0 win in San Marino was, despite the scoreline, hardly a heart-racer, and was largely only notable as a) the game that guaranteed England a place in France next year and b) the game where Wayne Rooney equalised Bobby Charlton’s 49 goals in an England shirt. It leaves England on 21 points to Switzerland’s 15, meaning a win or draw at Wembley on Tuesday evening would put Roy Hodgson’s side out of the reach of the 2nd place Swiss.



Given the relative ease of the target, with England already having beaten Switzerland in the qualifying round’s opening game 2-0 thanks to a Welbeck brace, the focus will firmly be on Wayne Rooney. The England captain opened the scoring on Saturday with a 13th minute (and confusingly given) penalty, but was taken off early in the second half, preventing him from besting Charlton’s record. Of course, it is more fitting for Rooney to break that particular record at Wembley, so if one was being generous you could say Hodgson did the Manchester United striker a favour taking him off against San Marino. Regardless, Rooney is easily favourite to score first at 15/4, with a healthy Super Mega PGM spread of 32-38.

Theo Walcott and Harry Kane, both second half substitutes in San Marino, also had good showing, with the former scoring with his first touch before nabbing another with 13 minutes to go and the latter finishing the scoring a minute later. Both will be hopeful for a run-out against Switzerland, with Kane at a Super Mega PGM of 26-31 and Walcott at 19-23.

Switzerland, for what it is worth, have had an OK qualifying period in a relatively easy group. A nightmare start to qualification, with an opening game loss against England and a defeat to Slovenia in their first two games has turned into a much more consistent run. A 4-0 win over San Marino was joined by a 4-0 home win and 2-1 away win over Lithuania, a 3-0 victory over Estonia and, most recently, a dramatic 3-2 victory over Slovenia. That win on Saturday put 5 points between Switzerland and 3rd place Slovenia, meaning qualification isn’t too far away.



Borussia Mönchengladbach’s summer signing Josip Drmic was the star of that weekend game, opening Switzerland’s scoring in the 80th minute after Slovenia had led 2-0 with goals either side of the break, before grabbing the 94th minute winner after an equaliser from Valentin Stocker 10 minutes before. It takes Drmic’s qualifying total to 3 goals, and leaves him at a Super Mega PGM spread of 11-15 and at 17/2 to score first. England should also be worried about Stoke’s record signing Xherdan Shaqiri; he has scored 5 goals in qualifying so far, with the Apline Messi at a Super Mega PGM of 8-11.

A dream evening could be on the cards, complete with securing a 1st place finish, a record-breaking goal from Wayne Rooney and a strong run out from the likes of Jonjo Shelvey and the returning Raheem Sterling, even if Switzerland are a far cry from the likes of San Marino. Our Spreadex traders certainly think it is possible, offering an England/Switzerland Goal Supremacy spread of 0.65-0.85 alongside a Total Goals spread of 2.25-2.45.