Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia.
Monday 14th October.
Kick-off: 19:45
UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying Group A.
TV: ITV1 (UK) BNT1 (Bulgaria)
The story so far
Monday’s Euro 2020 qualifier sees England take on Bulgaria at the Vasil Levski Stadium in Sofia. Bulgaria will be playing for pride in this match as they have no chance of qualifying due to their previous results. England will be hoping to bounce back after their first defeat in a qualifying match since 2009. They lost 2-1 against the Czech Republic on Friday evening. They will seal qualification with victory in Sofia and if Kosovo fail to beat Montenegro tonight.
Bulgarian blues
Bulgaria, like the Czech Republic, are not even a shadow of previous generations and have no notable footballer amongst their ranks since the retirement of striker Dimitar Berbatov. They will want to avoid the “wooden spoon” award of this group with a result against England, but anything here will be a bonus and they will see their next match in November as a chance to get some points. Bulgaria have never beaten England in a football match, even in their 90s glory days and they lost comfortably 4-0 at Wembley in September. It’s unlikely that will change here, however, victory in Sofia could be a silver lining in what has been a dark grey cloud of a qualifying campaign. STS have odds of 11/1 for a shock Bulgarian win.
England’s aims
Despite the poor performance and result in Prague on Friday, England are still in a very good position to qualify and finish top of the group. They will want to show the England fans that the loss in Prague was just a blip with a convincing performance in Sofia. Expect a few changes to the lineup, especially in midfield and defence where they struggled against the Czechs. England have had a leaky defence in their previous two encounters with 4 goals conceded. If you think England will concede a goal again tonight, Bulgaria are 7/5 to score 1 goal in the match.
Betting tip
England will be fully expected to recover from defeat in their previous match with a victory against a team that is weaker than the Czech Republic. Bulgaria will be looking to sneak a goal at set-pieces or on the counter and England’s performance in Prague will give the Bulgarians a lot of encouragement. However, England will still have plenty of attacking forays into the box and you’d fancy them to get at least a couple of goals. Our betting tip is for England to score 2 or 3 goals at odds of 5/4.
Whatever you bet on, enjoy the game and don’t forget that our prices are subject to fluctuation. Please check the STS Sports Betting page for the latest odds.