Sky Sports News HQ’s Andy Burton reports from St George’s Park as Wayne Rooney remains a doubt for Friday’s Euro 2016 qualifier against Estonia.
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Prediction: England has already qualified, but the goal is to finish this Euro 2016 qualifying campaign with a ideal record. “We feel good as a squad, with the management and the players”.
Even backing England with a -2 European handicap, a bet that requires the home side to win by three goals or more will only return 21/20 (2.05) with Betway so the opportunity to take a bigger price on the straight win will surely prove popular.
In 2010, they were humbled by Germany in the second round and they were eliminated by Italy on penalties at the same stage in 2012.
“Our ultimate aim is to go to the tournament next year and win it, but talk is cheap, as we’ve seen in the past”, Hart added.
“I’ve felt we could win every tournament I’ve been to, but we didn’t. We feel good. We have picked ourselves up”, he said. “It is a two-year plan and we’re halfway through it now and we need to put it right in the summer”.
Estonia’s final match against Switzerland in Tallinn, as the result against England would give them a decent chance of keeping tournament alive.
“I had a problem earlier in the week”, Hart said.
This one should be a decent game, I think Estonia are a tough nut to crack and I am going to take both teams to score here.
After England’s final two qualifiers, they will come up against stiffer tests.
Upcoming friendlies against Spain, France and Germany will provide a better yardstick with which to measure England’s progress since the World Cup. But it’s the fact that England is unbeaten in 18 games at Wembley Stadium. “We can work on the way we play and then move on. That’s all we do”, he said.
It will be a cause for concern for Louis van Gaal, who is tasked with motivating his players following a disappointing loss at the hands of Arsenal, and will hope to have his captain back for their clash against Everton on 17 October, just after the ongoing worldwide break.
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Hodgson is acutely aware that he does not want players to “break down” on his watch and is set to resist the temptation to call up Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge.
