England v Northern Ireland Preview

England look a very solid bet to win Group Six and should not have too many problems dispatching a Northern Ireland side low on points and but not low on confidence. The Northern Ireland manager Lawrie Sanchez is doing his best to remain upbeat but you can't help feeling that there is a little bit of Comical Ali in there when he said, ''I was at a fans forum on Monday night and everyone of them thinks we are going to win this game." It's going to be a tall order for them realistically to get a result at Old Trafford, but they will work hard and if they can replicate their performance in Cardiff when they held Wales to a draw, you never know, but everything points to an England win. Stan James bet England 1/8, The Draw at 5/1, N.Ireland at 14/1. With the prohibitive odds of 1/8 against England it might be better to focus on some other markets on the game. England to be leading half time and full time is 3/10, England 2-0 (5/1), 3-0 (11/2), 3-1 (12/1), 4-0 (13/2),5-0 (12/1) are all realistic options, and to score first for England Stan James have Rooney (11/4), Gerrard (8/1), Defoe (7/2), Owen (11/4) and Heskey (5/1). Is it possible Northern Ireland could get a result? Well they will have to be extremely lucky. With England's talent you can see them creating a bundle of chances and the Irish keeper be it Taylor or Roy Carroll will have to be on top form to repel them. If Roy Carroll does play he'll have a massive point to prove after his recent slip ups. The England defence is also rock solid and again Northern Ireland will have to be lucky to get enough chances to score. The most interesting market is the Match Handicap with England getting a two goal start. Stan James bet England (-2) at 6/5, The Tie at 11/4, N.Ireland (+2) at 6/4. What England will not want to do is panic and let the Irish gain any sort of confidence, because if they are tied at the break, they will put men behind the ball and go for the draw in the second half. A point will be seen as a massive result for the Irish.