WE CAN RULE
ENGLAND have won one and drawn three of their four previous matches against Montenegro in all competitions, running out 4-1 winners in their most recent encounter in October 2013 at Wembley. ENGLAND have drawn their two previous away games in Montenegro (2-2 in October 2011 and 1-1 in March 2013).
ENGLAND have not lost any of their last 21 away competitive matches (W14 D7) since a 1-0 defeat in a 2010 World Cup qualifier against Ukraine back in October 2009. MONTENEGRO have won just one of their last five games (W1 D1 L3), drawing 1-1 in their qualifier against Bulgaria. ENGLAND have won their three previous matches played on a Monday under
Gareth Southgate, beating Slovakia, Tunisia and Spain. Only in games played on a Sunday (4/4) does Southgate have a better 100 per cent win rate. ENGLAND are looking to win five consecutive matches for the first time under Southgate – they last won five in a row in
2015 under Roy Hodgson. STEFAN MUGOSA has scored four goals in his last four internationals for Montenegro. AGAINST Czech Republic, England didn’t feature a Manchester United player in a competitive match for the first time since November 2007 against Croatia – they last failed to feature a Red Devils player in consecutive competitive internationals in November 1990 (v Poland and Ireland).
RAHEEM STERLING has scored five goals in his last three England matches – he had scored just twice in his first 45 appearances – the Man City forward has scored with five of his last seven shots, having netted with just two of his first 62 shots for the Three Lions. IF Jadon Sancho scores against Montenegro, he will become the youngest England player to score on their birthday (19), and the first since Steven Gerrard did so against Hungary in May 2006. something we’ve talked about a lot. They have to stay calm – it’s really intense, there’s a passionate local support.”
England have only beaten
Montenegro once in four games and
Southgate admits the red-hot atmosphere in the 16,000-seater stadium could be the biggest danger. Full-back Kyle Walker also spoke to his team-mates to warn them about the dangers of flares being thrown on to the pitch.
Three Lions boss Southgate added:
“We’ve made the players aware of that.
Kyle is the only player to have played in the fixture, so he spoke yesterday to help the players prepare for what’s coming.” MONTENEGRO ENGLAND TV TIMES: Live on ITV from 7pm England Montenegro Bulgaria Kosovo Czech Rep P W D L F A Pts 1 1 0 0 5 0 3 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 5 0 Raheem Sterling to score first