Our selections for Thomas Tuchel’s first game as England manager include a comfortable win for the Three Lions with an Arsenal star on the scoresheet.
England start life under new manager Thomas Tuchel with a 2026 World Cup qualifier against Albania at Wembley on Friday night. The Group K fixture kicks off at 7.45pm and England are hot favourites to make a winning start to their qualifying campaign for next year’s tournament in North America. Here are our football betting selections for you to factor into your Bet Builder.
England v Albania tips
England to win 3-0 19/4
Second half to have most goals 1/1
Declan Rice to be anytime goalscorer 5/1
Tuchel should steer Three Lions to comfortable win
England struggled to cut loose during their run to the final of Euro 2024 but they rediscovered their scoring touch in six Nations League matches under interim manager Lee Carsley.
The Three Lions won five of their six Group B2 games in the autumn, earning promotion to the top flight of the Nations League, and Carsley signed off with a 5-0 home win over the Republic of Ireland.
England thrashed Albania 5-0 in a World Cup qualifier in November 2021 but the visitors have strengthened since then so a 3-0 England victory appeals in the correct-score betting.
Cole Palmer and Bukayo Saka are among the attacking injury absentees for the hosts but Tuchel could still name a classy front three of Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham and the rejuvenated Marcus Rashford.
Kane scored a first-half hat-trick in the 2021 rout of Albania, who competed well in a brutal group at Euro 2024.
They took a shock first-minute lead in a 2-1 defeat to defending champions Italy before drawing 2-2 with Croatia and losing 1-0 to a Spain side who went on to beat England in the final.
However, Albania’s attacking limitations were exposed in their 2024-25 Nations League campaign as they scored only four goals, one of them a penalty, in six matches against Ukraine, Georgia and the Czech Republic.
Wembley clash could be a slow-burning affair
England’s 5-0 win over the Republic of Ireland last time out was goalless until Kane’s 53rd-minute penalty and 12 of their last 14 goals have come in the second half of matches.
It was a similar story at the Euros, where the Three Lions’ five normal-time goals in the knockout stages were scored in the 94th, 80th, 18th, 91st and 73rd minutes.
Albania stunned Italy when Nedim Bajrami scored after 23 seconds of their Euro 2024 opener but they have failed to register a first-half goal in their last seven games so backing the second half to have more goals looks a solid bet.
Rice’s goal threat may be underrated
The return of Jordan Henderson to England’s midfield should give Declan Rice licence to get forward and the Arsenal man is worth backing to get on the scoresheet against Albania.
Rice scored England’s first goal under interim boss Carsley, also providing an assist for Jack Grealish in September’s 2-0 away win against the Republic of Ireland.
He found the net in October’s 3-1 victory in Finland and comes into the World Cup qualifying campaign in good form, having scored for Arsenal against Manchester United in the Premier League and PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League this month.