Top 5 bets with England, Scotland and NI in World Cup action

England v Hungary

England look to continue their stroll to next year’s World Cup finals with what should be a routine home game against Hungary. Gareth Southgate’s men beat tonight’s visitors 4-0 in Budapest in an unsavoury atmosphere last month, and will be looking for a repeat of that result tonight. England are top of Group I with 19 points from seven games, and need two more wins to be assured a World Cup place.

Cross-Bookings 420-500

The game in Budapest was a bad tempered affair, with five bookings in a hostile, toxic atmosphere, and with the Hungarians lacking in footballing talent – they’ve lost home and away to Albania since that England game without scoring a goal, with a 2-1 home win over Andorra in between – this could degenerate into frustrated visitors resorting to kicking the likes of Jack Grealish and Raheem Sterling, so good at making even decent defenders look daft. If that does happen, and England’s players react, Cross-Bookings would be one of the markets that punters will be looking to buy.

Faroe Islands v Scotland

Despite Scotland boss Steve Clarke talking up the strides the Faroe Islands national team has made of late, this should be a stroll in the park for a Scottish side on a high after the weekend’s exhilarating 3-2 over Israel. That victory, given to them by Scott McTominay’s injury time winner, sees Scotland four points clear in second place in Group F and odds on to secure a World Cup play-off spot. Denmark have won every game and are seven points clear and all but impossible to catch at the top.

Headed Goal Minutes 31-34

Perhaps in reaction to Steve Clarke’s comments on how much better this Faroe Islands team is than in previous years, and that his side were lucky to win 4-0 in the reverse fixture, we’ve seen some selling of total goals and Scotland performance markets. However, one market that is popular with buyers is Heads Goal Minutes. Lyndon Dykes has three goals in his last three games and is an excellent header of a ball, while Grant Hanley should come back into the defence, allowing McTominay to move back into midfield. Both are a big threat from set pieces, and given the naivety of tonight’s opponents, Scotland will be confident of making free-kicks and corners as threatening as possible.

Bulgaria v Northern Ireland

Qualification is looking more an up-mountain than uphill task for Northern Ireland now, standing nine points behind leaders Italy in Group C, and six behind Switzerland, who are currently second and in the play-off position. But tonight’s game is still important, with Bulgaria level with Ian Baraclough’s side on five points, and future qualification campaigns at stake. Whoever finishes third will benefit from easier draws for future championships, and Northern Ireland go to Bulgaria looking for the win. The Bulgarians are coming off a shock loss to basement side Lithuania, a side beaten 4-1 by Northern Ireland earlier in the campaign.

Goals Cubed 20-23

After Bulgaria’s 3-1 defeat against a poor Lithuania side, there’s renewed optimism that Northern Ireland can take the game to an inexperienced Bulgaria team. Before that defeat in Lithuania, Bulgaria beat Georgia 4-1, and we’ve seen buying in a variety of goals markets. The Goal Cubed market cubes the total goals, so if there’s three goals scored tonight, the Goals cubed will be 27 (3x3x3), if there’s four goals, Goals Cubes will be 64 (4x4x4). Before anyone gets carried away though it’s worth remembering that it’s only just over a month since Bulgaria held mighty Italy to a 1-1 draw in Florence.

Is there any horse racing action this evening?

There is an 8-race meeting at Newcastle tonight, starting at 5.00 and finishing with the 8.30.

Winning Distances 11.8-12.8

This market is made up by the total winning distances from all the races at tonight’s meeting. The closer the races are the lower the Winning Distances, the smaller the make-up of this market, which is good for sellers. But if there are one or two winners that romp away with it, this Winning Distances market will settle much higher, good for buyers. For distances of less than half a length, there are different points. A neck adds 0.3, a short neck 0.25, a head 0.2, a short head 0.1 and a nose 0.05.

Is Andy Murray playing at Indian Wells?

Andy Murray will try and roll back the years as he takes on Germany’s Alex Zverev in the 3^rd round at Indian Wells tonight (due on court around 11pm). In his first appearance since 2017, the injury-ravaged Scot has already raised some eyebrows, beating Adrian Mannarino and Carlos Alcarez, but Zverev is a step up in class. Murray has won both previous matches with Zverev, including one last year at the Western and Southern Open in his first tournament back after nine months out with a hip injury.

Murray Points 64-68

Murray is the underdog in tonight’s match, but patriotic punters have been finding ways of getting with the three-time Grand Slam champion in markets they may win on even if he ultimately loses the match. Murray Points, set at 64-68, has attracted buyers who feel he will make this a close match at the every least. There is no love lost between these two players, and that extra edge – plus never having lost to him before – may help Murray rediscover some of his very best form.