Switzerland v England
Football : International : Euro 2012 Qualifier
Tuesday 7 September 2010 - Kickoff 7:45pm

This game is live on TV

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Switzerland

Switzerland will begin their qualifying campaign for Euro 2012 with an important home game against the favourites to win the group, England. With only 1 side qualifying directly for the tournament in Poland and Ukraine, Switzerland will feel they need the 3 points if they have serious ambitions of topping the group.

The nation is managed by Ottmar Hitzfeld, the German who coached Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich to Champions League success, and he has instilled a hard to beat mentality into his side. They were the only team to prevent Spain scoring and beating the future World Champions in South Africa this Summer.

Switzerland proved their toughness at home during the last qualifying campaign for the World Cup when they were 3-1-1 at home, but an early loss here to Luxembourg is a worry. The Swiss have only won 1 of their last 8 games at home, both in competitve games and international friendlies including a 0-0 draw against Australia on Friday night.

Diego Banaglio will be missing for the Swiss team as he was given a leave of absence. There is no other team news I have for them at this time.

Possible Switzerland Line Up: Wolfli, Lichtsteiner, Affolter, Grichting, Ziegler, Fernandes, Inler, Degen, Bunjaku, Frei and Derdiyok (4-4-2)

England

England performed well on Friday night to relieve some of the pressure being built up on Fabio Capello, but the 4-0 scoreline flattered them a little bit in my opinion. Bulgaria had chances to get back into the game while it was only 1-0, but their failure to do so led to an easy looking win in the end for the Three Lions.

Capello may be forgiven for truly believing the England job is a curse after all the positive vibes around the squad were brought back down to earth when a leading Sunday newspaper broke a story regarding Wayne Rooney's private life. I am sure the Italian manager of the side truly would like his players to keep off the front pages of the papers, as seems to be the case more often than not in 2010.

The World Cup may have erased some memories, but England have a strong away record in competitive games under Capello, winning 4 of 5 games in the qualifying section. The only loss in that section was once England had qualified and came in the Ukraine.

Wayne Rooney did travel with the squad to Switzerland after some believed he may not after the allegations made on Sunday. Michael Dawson misses out after suffering a serious injury on Friday night, but there is an otherwise full squad to choose from.

Possible England Line Up: Hart, Johnson, Cahill, Jagielka, Cole, Barry, Gerrard, Milner, Walcott, Rooney and Defoe (4-4-2)

Head to Head

Switzerland actually represented as Fabio Capello's first opponent as England manager in a game England won 2-1 at Wembley in 2008.

The 2 nations have not met for some time here in Switzerland, the last occasion being 1998, and on that occasion it ended in a 1-1 draw. The last time the 2 nations met in a Qualifying game was back in 1981, and the Swiss were successful 2-1 winners at home.

Prediction

Switzerland probably believe that England are going to win this group and they will likely be fighting for 2nd spot and a play off berth. However, if they do have any intention of challenging for first place, they will need to get a positive result here, most welcoming of course being the 3 points. The Swiss pride themselves on being a tough team to beat and I expect them to make things difficult for England here.

England know there will be a media backlash if they lose this game, but are struggling with injuries at the centre back position. They looked better against Bulgaria on Friday, but still allowed too many chances for the opposition, even with control of possession of the ball for much of the game. However, they have proved under Fabio Capello that they are capable of getting results away from home during the qualifying campaigns.

This is a tough game to predict and it is very possible that 1 goal will separate the 2 nations come 90 minutes. However, I do not expect this to be an open, entertaining game- I very much expect the Swiss to make themselves difficult to beat with the hope of nicking a goal at some stage. Hitzfeld is an impressive manager, and ensures his side is disciplined.

I cannot really separate the sides and truly believe it could go either way. I DO anticipate a defensive battle though as the 2 managers try to outwit one another tactically.

Both sides may eventually settle for a point a piece, but I am favouring the Under 1.5 goal option here - there seems to be a touch of value in picking that as it covers the 3 scorelines I expect to see the most: 0-0, 1-0, 0-1

The Statistics :

The Pick :

Switzerland 0-0 England

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

Take Under 1.5 Goals