England vs Bulgaria 08/09/19

8 September 2019

England and Bulgaria will face-off at Wembley Stadium for their UEFA European Championship qualification (ECQ) match, as the hosts look to stretch their unbeaten home run in H2Hs to five games (W2, D2).

It has been a genuinely successful ECQ campaign for the hosts so far, as they won both of their opening games of Group A, scoring five goals apiece while conceding one in total. They, however, go into this encounter off the back of back-to-back draws with the Netherlands and Switzerland in the UEFA Nations League play-offs. After losing 3-1 (1-1 in 90 minutes) to Holland in the play-off semi-finals, the Three Lions went on to beat the Nati 1-0 in extra-time in the third-place play-off. Also, England have won all four of their last home games, three of which have seen them score 2+ match goals. What’s more, they pulled off seven wins in their previous eight competitive home matches (W7, L1), five of which have seen them beat their opponents to nil.

Meanwhile, the visitors are winless in their last seven competitive outings (D4, L3), losing two of their previous ECQ games, both by a narrow one-goal margin. Notably, all four of their stalemates in that sequence have ended with the same 1-1 scoreline, with all four goals the Lions have scored in that period coming beyond the half-hour mark. Bulgaria’s struggling for form when away from home has seen them pick up just one triumph in their last ten competitive trips (W1, D3, L6). Again, all three of those draws have ended with the identical 1-1 scoreline, while three of their previous four away results seeing teams divided by a one-goal margin.