Home Nations fixtures preview: All four home nations looking to build on wins last week

After a successful weekend for the home nations, they are back in action in their final round of World Cup qualifiers of the international break.

Here are our previews.

Rampant England hard to ignore

England’s World Cup qualifying campaign could not have been any smoother up to now. Unbeaten in their group and only having conceded a single goal in five games, the Three Lions travel to take on Poland this Wednesday.

After two dominant 4-0 wins over Hungary and Andorra, Gareth Southgate’s men will be full of confidence that they can defeat the second placed Poles and stretch their lead at the top of the group. This will be a tougher assignment, but England’s recent form is reflected in their odds of 8/13 to bring home all three points.

Poland also come into the match in form, having scored 11 times in their last two qualifiers and with Robert Lewandowski up front are always a threat in front of goal. Odds of him scoring at any time are 13/8, but that may still not be enough for a Poland victory as their price of 9/2 suggests they are definite outsiders.

Crunch time for Scotland

After being outclassed by Denmark, Scotland limped to a 1-0 win at home to Moldova, a team 126 positions below them in the World Rankings.

That result will not have eased the nerves of Scotland supporters as they now face a dangerous Austria side that performed considerably better than them at the Euros. Only one point separates the sides after five games and this looks sure to be a nervy encounter, with both knowing defeat could spell the end for their hopes of qualifying.

Scotland are struggling for goals and come into the tie as underdogs at 15/4. Austria showed in the Euros that they can be tough to break down, but recently let in five against Israel. They begin as favourites at 4/5, but with both sides likely to be fearful of the wrong result, a draw could be the most likely outcome and is available at 23/10. Try our online betting calculator to work out your potential winnings.

Wales to win again

Wales currently sit third in their group but have played two games less than the teams above them and still have two fixtures left to play against bottom of the table Estonia.

Gareth Bale’s injury time winner completed a dramatic comeback win against Belarus last time, giving Wales a much needed three points. Despite Wales being below their best there, a similar performance should be enough to take maximum points against Estonia. They are strong odd-on favourites to do so at 1/6.

Bale’s finish against Belarus completed a hattrick for the Welsh talisman and he looks likely to be the first one to profit from any Estonian mistakes at the back, with him a 15/8 chance to be the first goalscorer.

Estonia have conceded 15 goals in three games so far and victory would seem unlikely with their chance priced at 16/1.

Northern Ireland up against it

Northern Ireland produced a fine display to beat Lithuania 4-1 in the last round of qualifiers and will need to carry confidence from that into what looks a tough test against an unbeaten Switzerland side. Ian Baraclough’s team are capable of producing surprises, especially at home, and can be backed at 4/1 to do so on Wednesday, with 12/5 available about a draw.

However, Switzerland proved more than a match for Euro winners Italy in their last match, when they played out a 0-0 draw. That level of performance is why they are a short 8/11 for victory in Belfast. The Swiss have also only conceded once so far in qualifying and are an odds-on 19/20 to record a third clean sheet.

Check out all the latest football betting odds at William Hill