Nations League Tips: England v Belgium

Belgium travel to Wembley for the first time since 2012 as the number one ranked side in the world, which is quite the contrast to the side that last made the trip, one that had just failed to qualify for a fifth consecutive major tournament.

They met twice at the 2018 World Cup, as Belgium ran out winners in both matches, which were essentially dead rubbers. The group encounter saw both sides already through with the losers seemingly getting a better draw, before they met again as losing semi-finalists in the third-place play-off.

To current form though, and Belgium look in much better shape than an England side which scraped past Iceland with a stoppage-time penalty and then failed to trouble Denmark in a drab 0-0 draw in last month’s internationals. Belgium played the same two nations and produced much better results: a 5-1 win against Iceland and a 2-0 win over Denmark.

Belgium were also imperious in their Euro qualifying campaign, winning all ten matches, scoring 40 goals in the process. With the Red Devils being the side in form, we're tipping Belgium to win to nil at 7/2.

Even the most enthusiastic of England supporters would have struggled to find any positives or excitement in an attacking sense when watching England’s two internationals last month. One goal scored and none conceded in two games may show a sign of solidity and balance, but in truth, England rarely looked like they were going to score in either match.

Plus, both sides are more often than not involved in games where both teams don’t score. 11 of England’s last 18 and 13 of Belgium’s last 20 have seen BTTS-no occur, as well as the three meetings between the nations in recent times:1-0 and 2-0 wins for Belgium at the 2018 World Cup and a 1-0 England win in that Wembley friendly in 2012.

Despite the firepower on display, England’s unwillingness to unleash it may mean BTTS-no is a likely outcome and England are priced at 7/2 and Belgium 7/2, in this regard.

Martinez loves to rotate his squad when there is a double-header international break. This time though, it is a triple-header, so rotation is pretty much guaranteed. However, with England the toughest opponents on paper, expect the Spaniard to keep his big-hitters fresh for this encounter, either side of a friendly against Ivory Coast and the Nations League meeting with Iceland.

Romelu Lukaku will expect to be a part of the XI which lines up at Wembley, and his international scoring record should have Harry Maguire and co. extremely worried on concerned. Lukaku is Belgium’s all-time top scorer, with 52 goals in 85 appearances, and being as he will be up against Premier League players, it's important to note his 113 goals in England's top flight put him as the 19th greatest Premier League goalscorer ever.

The ex-Manchester United striker only played in five of Belgium’s Euro 2020 qualifiers, yet scored seven goals and he remains the main man for his country, despite the likes of Kevin De Bruyne and Eden Hazard on the scene.

Lukaku is priced at 14/5 to score and win and 17/10 to score anytime.

Belgium are a side which don’t usually see any of their players cautioned during a match. Being a possession-based outfit means they are very rarely out of shape, therefore, not needing to foul players in dangerous areas.

For example, they conceded just 18 fouls in their two internationals combined last month, which is below the average we saw across the international fixtures.

In their previous ten matches combined, they have received just six yellows and had nobody sent off, and in five of those ten matches they didn’t receive a single card while they only saw more than one player booked on one occasion.