England Are Just Fab!
Buyers of England's win index spread will be hoping the Three Lions can continue their fine run of form as they look to beat Ukraine at Wembley on Wednesday. England top the group with a five-point cushion ahead of Croatia and a fifth win in a row will see them edge closer to World Cup qualification. England's Italian manager Fabio Capello has restored some much needed confidence in the national side and spread bettors will be unsurprised to find them strong favourites on the win index with a spread of 19-20.5 (25pts for a win, 10pts for a draw) against Ukraine's spread of 3-4.5pts.
Those spread bettors to have bought England's supremacy with Sporting Index for their friendly against Slovakia at the weekend will have been delighted with the team's four goals and the second half performance in particular will please England's buyers on both the win index and England/Ukraine supremacy spread, currently at 1.4-1.6. Sellers of the supremacy may be concerned that in their four World Cup qualification wins so far England have scored fourteen goals and conceded only three. Buyers of the total goal minutes spread of 135-145 may also have noted that of England's fourteen goals only two were scored in the first period. In England's last qualifier at Wembley, against Kazakhstan, their contribution alone to the goal minutes make-up was a staggering 368 - although there is little doubt that Ukraine will prove a tougher defensive proposition than the Kazakhs. Sellers of total goals at 2.7 will point out that the Ukrainians have only conceded one goal throughout the entire qualifying campaign.
After dominating both the weekend's front and back pages, much attention will be on Wayne Rooney who will win his 50th cap against Ukraine - he has netted seven goals in his last four internationals, the first player since Gary Lineker in 1986 to score in four consecutive matches. Buyers of Rooney's total goal minutes will be hoping he continues his impressive scoring run and will be delighted with his last three competitive England games where his total goal minutes have been 124, 162 and 63. His goal minutes spread tomorrow is 27-30 minutes. Spread punters may also like to take a look at Sporting Index's player performance special for Rooney, where points are awarded for goals scored, shots on target and free kicks won but deducted for fouls and bookings. His spread is at 55-60, while Frank Lampard leads the way with a performance spread of 85-90pts.
Elsewhere, Ireland face a tough test against World Champions Italy and Irish manager Giovanni Trapattoni will be relishing the chance to derail his home country's qualification campaign. Italy are currently at 18.5-20 on the win index spread and sellers will be hoping for Ireland to at least force a draw. Sellers of the total goals spread for this match at 2.3 will be aware that both sides have excellent defensive records with the Italians conceding only twice in their five qualification matches so far and the Irish conceding just three.
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