Malta the perfect debut game for Gareth Southgate
Interim England boss Gareth Southgate starts his four-game trial period with a home game against Malta on Saturday. In terms of opponents the former-Middlesbrough boss has been handed a kind debut.
The visitors are minnows in European and world football. In truth, England should record a comfortable victory over them. The Three Lions may not be in the best of spirits after a poor Euro 2016 and the Sam Allardyce fiasco, but Malta are unlikely to cause a shock at Wembley.
Malta have suffered defeat in four of their last six international matches, including a 5-1 home mauling in their opening group game against Scotland. The suspicion is that the Maltese head to the English capital with some trepidation.
These are the sorts of games that the Three Lions tend to win pretty comfortably in qualifiers. Their qualification record is very good. England have lost just one of their last 23 matches in World Cup qualifiers.
In fact, they have suffered just two defeats in their last 38 qualifiers. It is fair to say that the Three Lions find qualifying relatively easy, even if they struggle at the actual tournament itself.
Malta represent little threat to that stellar qualifying record, as they have won just one of their last 21 international matches. It seems a win at Wembley may just be beyond the minnows.
If they did record a victory over the Three Lions it would no doubt be the most high-profile victory in the national team’s history. However, there is little chance that Gareth Southgate or any of the England players are worried about that outcome.
There is enough quality in the current England squad to record a comfortable victory over the visitors. Southgate will be highly confident of pulling off a victory in his maiden game as Three Lions boss.
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