Scotland face the `Auld Enemy` England at Celtic Park

England travel north on Tuesday to face Scotland in an international friendly that is sure to be anything but a traditional friendly game, with a great rivalry between the two British countries. With the home nations championship now a thing of the past, it`s mainly friendlies such as this that bring together British countries in football and an excited, passionate crowd is expected at Celtic Park.

England travel to Glasgow having defeated Slovenia 3-1 at home in their Euro 2016 qualifying group and sit comfortably at the top of Group E, 6 points of clear of Slovenia, who find themselves in second place. Since their disastrous world cup campaign, England`s results have all been positive and they are favourites with paddypower at 6/5 to defeat Scotland in this game. England manager Roy Hodgson may be tempted to make some changes to his starting eleven from the win against Slovenia but it`s going to be hard to leave out the in form Danny Welbeck, who has scored 5 goals in his last 4 games for England. This game is also likely to witness the debut of West Bromwich Albion`s Saido Berahino who has been scoring goals in the Premier League this season. The striker is available at 13/5 with ladbrokes to score at any time.

Scotland come in to the match in buoyant mood following their 1-0 home defeat over another close neighbour, Republic of Ireland and that victory leaves them in a strong position in Group D, just 3 points off the leaders Poland, having already played in both Poland and Germany. Therefore, the confidence and mood in the Scotland camp will be high and they can be backed at 14/5 with BetVictor to defeat the Auld Enemy. With Steven Fletcher missing through an injury picked up against Republic of Ireland, their will be increased responsibility on the likes of Steven Naismith, who will know many of the England players well due to playing for Everton in the Premier League. Naismith has scored 4 goals in the Premier League this season and is on offer at 9/1 with ladbrokes to opening the scoring. Steven Fletcher`s replacement against Republic of Ireland was Derby County`s Chris Martin and the striker is in great form for his club in the Championship, scoring 10 goals in 17 games. Martin is 9/1 with ladbrokes to score the first goal of the match and although yet to score for Scotland, will be determined to break his duck against England.

In their last 5 games, Scotland have won 2, drawn 2 and lost 1, the latter of which was a closely fought 2-1 away defeat to Germany. During that time, Scotland have scored at least once in every game and kept clean sheets in two of them, scoring a total of 8 goals and conceding 6. England have won all of their previous 5 matches, scoring 12 goals and conceding just 1, which came in their most recent match. Having said that, 5 of England`s 12 goals came against San Marino at Wembley. With England`s recent defensive record and their 2-0 away result against Switzerland in September, Roy Hodgson`s men are rightly favourites for this match but it could be tight and ladbrokes offer 7/10 that there will be under 2.5 goals in the game and stanjames have 3/1 for an England win with under 2.5 goals scored.

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18/11/2014     © Frixo 2026