England v Peru: Inexperienced visitors to boost morale

Roy Hodgson's World Cup preparations have been going well

Michael Lintorn maps out two potential paths to profit in England's pre-World Cup friendly with Peru...

England v Peru
Friday, 20:00
Live on ITV

Match Odds: England 1.321/3, Peru 12.011/1, The Draw 5.95/1

Though recollections of the last time England invited South American opposition to Wembley - when Chile outperformed them to triumph 2-0 in November - still causes the occasional shiver, Peru should inflict no such pre-World Cup angst on Roy Hodgson's squad.

They have been in a steady decline since narrowly missing out on a World Cup 1998 place, finishing in the bottom three of four successive South American qualifying sections, managing just 15 points from 16 games in the 2014 process.

Attempts have been made to alter the trajectory, namely trying to entice Marcelo Bielsa to take over as head coach earlier this year before settling on former assistant Pablo Bengoechea on a short-term contract.

It doesn't help an already unremarkable side's chances of springing a shock in London that they are without the players who have established themselves in Europe's elite leagues: Juan Manuel Vargas, Jefferson Farfan, Paolo Guerrero and the ageless Claudio Pizarro.

Instead, the travelling party is full of players under the age of 23. Sporting Lisbon's Andre Carrillo is perhaps the most established of the Europe-based contingent, with the others representing the likes of Rio Ave, Montpellier and Real Sociedad, Real Madrid and Twente's reserve teams.

Either side of the hiccups against Chile and Germany, the Three Lions earned five Wembley wins - against Scotland, Moldova, Montenegro and Poland prior and Denmark since - and, with Hodgson's men almost at full strength, this should be another victory.

Both Teams To Score

Though Phil Jagielka believes there is a campaign to smear England's defence as a possible World Cup weak link, they have improved as a clean sheet-accumulating engine recently, obtaining four in their last seven encounters.

On two of the three occasions that they were breached in that sequence, they nobly assisted efforts to keep the score down by declining to net themselves, the result being that both teams have scored in only one of their last seven matches.

Half With Most Goals

England have fired just one first-half goal in their last six games compared to six after the interval, and allowed their opponents only two strikes by the 45th minute in that period. Peru's last three clashes with non-South American nations were all goalless at the break.

Best Bet: Back both teams to score? No @ 1.715/7
Other Recommended Bet: Back the second half to have more goals @ 2.166/5