England vs. Albania - World Cup Qualifiers Tips

England will host Albania on Friday night to kickstart their World Cup Qualification process, and the Three Lions will certainly be looking for three points in front of a Wembley crowd.

There is a lot to play for in the game, especially as it is the start of Thomas Tuchel's leadership of the England team, nevertheless, let's look at the teams, and have a little scout of our picks.

Ben's Bets for England vs. Albania

At the time of writing this, we are unaware of the lineups, so I have tried to avoid a lot of player-focused bets. However, I still think there can be value found in these selections.

Rey Manaj to Make 2+ Fouls

Now, I know what I said about players, but to me, this seems like an opportunity that is too good to turn down. Rey Manaj should be the leading striker for Albania in these qualifiers, and I'm backing him to get two or more fouls in this game.

So far this season, he has averaged just over two fouls per game in the Turkish league, and these stats were almost identical in the European Championship last summer. With Levi Colwill and Marc Guehi drawing just under a foul each per game, I like the chance of this, and this is without even considering the deeper midfielders.

We know very little about how England will play under Tuchel, but I quite like the idea of them looking to counter quickly, as Tuchel has already admitted, so I think Manaj could make a foul here and there to stop those quick attacks.

Under 9 Corners

Following that, I'm going back to a summer favourite of mine, and that was corner bets. Throughout the European Championship, I highlighted several odds that seemed really generous in the corner markets, and I'm back again here.

Throughout that competition, there were just 29% of England's 7 games where there were nine or more corners, and Albania were the only team to not record a single game with nine or more corners.

For me, this seems like a really easy pick and at above Evens, it stands out as a bit of value.

England To Win + Over 2.5 Goals

My third pick on this list is England to win and more than 2.5 goals in the game. I think this is probably the 'safest' bet and the odds represent this, if anything, I'm shocked that they are not a lot lower.

We've said a lot already about it being Tuchel's first game, and this is why we're going to look to use this to our advantage.

In front of a Wembley crowd, Tuchel is going to want the best start to life possible, and putting on a show with a few goals would be a fantastic start to things, especially in a World Cup qualifying game.

So, a game with three goals or more and an England win seems to be a really nice selection, and at the odds, I am more than happy to take a punt on this selection.

Harry Kane to Score 2+ Goals

Now, who is going to carry the boats, or in this case, score the goals? Well, it's quite obvious I think, and it should not come as a surprise.

With 21 goals in 24 Bundesliga games, Harry Kane is doing just as well as he usually does and this is without even considering that he is actually averaging more than a goal per game - staggering, yet normal numbers for England's captain.

To further this, Kane actually had his best goals-to-minute ratio as a player under Tuchel (scoring every 79 minutes), with 36 goals in 32 games in the Bundesliga. Continuing down this line, the German's system will likely be built around getting Kane into the goalscoring areas as much and as quickly as possible. In other words, this phenomenal partnership should continue.

I wasn't too fond of the odds for just one goal, though this is not a bad bet either, but at almost 4/1, I've got a real fancy for this selection.