England To Roon Honduras Miami-Style

England take on a decidedly out-of-form Honduras looking to put a below-par performance against Ecuador a few days previous behind them. In this preview, I look at where the value bets lie.

Form
A much-changed England XI were held to a 2-2 draw in midweek against Ecuador, having previously defeated Peru 3-0 at Wembley. Although few players were involved in both games, defensive fragility was apparent in both, particularly against Ecuador, and will have been the greatest cause for concern to manager Roy Hodgson.

On the plus side, strikers Wayne Rooney, Daniel Sturridge and Rickie Lambert have all managed to get on the scoresheet in the past week. While impressive performances from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Ross Barkley give the manager food for thought ahead of their opening match of the tournament against Italy next Saturday.

Honduras, meanwhile, have suffered defeats to Turkey (2-0) and Israel (4-2) in the past week; losses that bring into question just what they can realistically achieve at this summer’s World Cup.

La Bicolor qualified for Brazil 2014 via a third place finish in CONEMBOL qualification; behind Costa Rica and USA, but comfortably – four points -ahead of Mexico in fourth place.

Team News
Hodgson is likely to revert back to his first-choice XI – or as near as possible – for England’s final World Cup warm-up match. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will undergo a scan on his knee following an injury picked up in the game against Ecuador. Raheem Sterling will be suspended – for this game only – following the red card he received on Wednesday night.

Wilson Palacios, Maynor Figueroa and Juan Carlos Garcia will be familiar Honduran faces to those who follow English football. Goalkeeper Noel Valladares captains the side and is the second most capped player in Honduras’s history.

Head-to-Head
England and Honduras have never played each other previously in an international fixture.

Recommended Bets
With a close to full strength team in place and against a decidedly average Honduran side England look to be outstanding value in the Match Odds betting at 4/11. Consequently the 13/10 about England -1 and 18/5 on England -2 are also great value bets.

I’d expect Hodsgon’s men to come out of the blocks fairly quickly, with the remit likely to be to get the job done inside the first 60-70 minutes and then make some substitutions and tactical changes. England-England in the HT-FT market therefore also looks to be a good bet at Evens.

Wayne Rooney added another England goal to his tally in midweek and can build on that here, he is 7/2 to open the scoring and Evens to score anytime. Daniel Sturridge is priced the same in both markets respectively.

Goals should be plentiful and I really like the look of the Evens available on Over 2.5 goals here. If you’re feeling adventurous then take the 12/5 on there being more than 3.5 goals