Hodgson’s old side Switzerland false favourites to beat England

The three keepers named by Petkovic all ply their trade in the Bundesliga, but for sides that are European challengers at best and mid-table teams at worst. Couple this weakness between the sticks with Switzerland persistently calling up Arsenal rejects Philippe Senderos and Johan Djourou, who are regularly paired in central defence, and you can see just how attractive those 2/1 odds on an England win are.

It would be naive to think, however, that the Swiss present no danger. As Petkovic takes his first steps as an international manager, he may be bold and select set piece threat Fabian Schar in the heart of defence. Odds of 8/1 say the highly-rated Basel centre back, who was Switzerland’s top scorer in World Cup qualifying, will net anytime.

Bayern Munich winger Xherdan Shaqiri, often deployed by Hitzfeld as a number 10, has four international goals in his last five outings. He is naturally shorter in the anytime market at 15/8, as he has a goal against England on his CV.

The Swiss striking options, like their stoppers, are all based in the Bundesliga, with Bayer Leverkusen’s Josip Drmic 13/2 to net the opener after scoring three times for his country this calendar year. Admir Mehmedi (Freiburg) or Haris Seferovic (Eintracht Frankfurt) are still up-and-coming too at 23 and 22 respectively, with the former the best value to net anytime at 11/4.

Enough about Switzerland; England captain Wayne Rooney has three in as many appearances against them, so back him to score in this match with Coral’s special enhanced odds of 3/1. You can stake up to a maximum of £20 on this bet, meaning there’s a potential £60 profit riding on it.

If you want to pile more on than that, Rooney, who converted a winning penalty against Norway, is just 7/4. An alternative bet that may attract is backing the Three Lions talisman in either the first or last scorer markets, where he is 6/1 apiece.

There’s been talk of shunting Rooney out to the left flank for this match in certain corners of the media. If Hodgson does this to give precocious teenager Raheem Sterling a free role, then it would be ignoring the very same journalistic criticism he attracted in the World Cup group stage loss to Italy.

Sterling is 11/4 to get his first international goal here, while either Arsenal new boy Danny Welbeck or Rickie Lambert, used sparingly since his switch to Liverpool, should replace the injured Daniel Sturridge. Both candidates to lead the England line are 2/1 to score anytime.

One final bet to consider is a Three Lions victory and both teams being on target. This current England defence is far from convincing, but tasty odds of 13/2 are available on them winning despite Switzerland scoring. Here, the two Group E favourites face one another, but whatever happens in Basel we should see both the Swiss and Three Lions in France at Euro 2016.