Football Tips: Phil Thompson's 4 best England v Albania bets with 4/1 punt

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Paddy Power ambassador and 42-capped England defender Phil Thompson has answered the call to represent his country once more and preview the Three Lions’ World Cup qualifying clash with Albania on Friday night. More importantly he’s back to help Paddy’s punters pick a winner or two.

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With Gareth Southgate’s England on the cusp of qualification, there’s still work to do to get over the line. This one’s actually trickier than it looks on paper so, without further ado, here’s Thommo’s England v Albania tips.

Friday 7.45pm: England v Albania

TV: ITV and ITV Hub

I don’t see it being a rout that you might have considered maybe five years ago. Albania have improved slightly. We’ve seen in the two games against Hungary how good they’ve been. Albania have beaten them twice in this qualifying group.

They’ve won 1-0 at home and away and they’ve had a defeat against Poland, only by the odd goal. That’s telling me that they can keep a clean sheet. When we’re looking at it guys, we’ve got to have a look at the team sheet because Gareth Southgate might change it up but he’ll put the stronger team out against Albania as they sit 3rd in this group on 15 points, only five points behind England.

Poland are sitting there in 2nd place on 17 points so maybe they’re looking at a playoff position, Albania. It’s going to be a tough one. England have got San Marino next and that’s away from home and that’s a proper gimme so Southgate could change the team for that one and that would appease a lot of the managers, wouldn’t it?

I really do fancy England at (-2) and I do fancy this one for 3-0 to England. As I say, Albania are no mugs and they have shown that they’ve got a good defence so I think 3-0 is a really good bet for England.

I would look for Harry Kane, I really fancy him in this one. I think if England do go quite strong for it and he does play I fancy Kane to Score Anytime and possibly Kane to Score 2 or More Goals. I think there’s a penalty in this for England.