England v Azerbaijan

England are set to name an unchanged line-up for the World Cup qualifier against Azerbaijan after David Beckham and Steven Gerrard trained on Monday. The skipper has had a back problem, while Gerrard took a knock in the win against N. Ireland.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> In truth the hosts could play pretty much any team from the Premiership and probably still record a decent victory on Wednesday evening. Poland showed the lack of quality in the Azerbaijan team with an eight goal mauling. Even before the Polish thrashing, the signs of just how poor Azerbaijan were could be seen from the recent friendly results. Two games against Trinidad (a poor outfit in the American and Caribbean qualifying group) ended in defeat with no goals scored. Before that several countries had comprehensively beaten Azerbaijan in competitive football. Anything less than a victory by at least a three goal margin would have to be viewed as a poor showing from England. That though is unlikely to happen. So having established, Eriksson's players are going to win well, it is now a matter of which market holds the most appeal. My first thought was to look at the correct score market, but then the final score could range from 3-0 right up to double figures. Unlike last Saturday, the bookies aren't being quite so generous with their anytime scorer markets, and quite rightly so. Instead for the first time ever, I shall be giving serious consideration to the hat-trick market. The player most of interest is Michael Owen, who in the past has shown a great liking for St.James' Park. In a Liverpool shirt, the England striker once scored a hat-trick against Newcastle and then followed that up with a double the following season. Having rewarded us so handsomely last time out, we shouldn't be afraid to re-investing in Owen at 9/1 to find the net at least three times. Having scored against Northern Ireland, confidence should be sky high again for the Real Madrid player. See all the free bets on this game!