Montenegro v England: England half time/full time the best bet

Everything looks good for England ahead of their trip to Montenegro for their crunch Euro 2012 qualifier and the best bet on offer appears to be the 13/8 that Fabio Capello’s team are ahead at both half time and full time.

England only need a draw from their trip to Podgorica to ensure they top Group G and ensure their qualification to Euro 2012.

To date, England have won all of their three away qualification fixtures, including tricky trips to Switzerland and Bulgaria, and Capello insists he will set his team up to gain maximum points again.

Throw in Wayne Rooney’s explosive start to the campaign, Frank Lampard showing signs of rediscovering his best form of late and Ashley Young’s fine form for Manchester United and there is plenty to be optimistic about.

England’s odds are 8/11 to win in Montenegro, but the half-time-full-time market is where more money can be made.

Capello may have already been frustrated by Montenegro once, when they failed to break them down in a 0-0 draw at Wembley earlier in the group, but there should be no such worries this time.

Montenegro have since sacked Zlatko Kranjcar and replaced him with Branko Brnovic, who may have trouble getting the team to play in the manner he wants in his first game in the dugout.

Meanwhile, seven of the England squad scored for their respective clubs last weekend, including strikers Darren Bent, Andy Carroll, Danny Welbeck and Bobby Zamora, who will all be pushing for a spot alongside Rooney in attack.

However, the big statistic is that Montenegro have tended to be slow starters of late, with the primary aim for keeping things tight for the first hour.

Montenegro have not scored in the first half of their last six games, four of which have been at home against opposition including Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan.

England on the other hand have scored in the first half of all of their last six games and kept clean sheets in their last two qualifiers.

With the two nations only conceding six goals between them in the group, it would be no surprise to see England shade a 1-0 victory, with the goal scored in the opening period.