Hungary v England Prediction: Back Maguire in Budapest test

Live on ITV, Hungary host England in the World Cup qualifiers this Thursday at the Ferenc Puskas stadium in Budapest at 7.45pm.

Gareth Southgate’s men are coming off an impressive Euros campaign that saw them finish runners up. They have a 100 percent winning record in the world cup qualifiers so far having beaten Poland, San Marino and Albania and will be looking to take a huge step towards automatic World Cup qualification with a win against Hungary.

The hosts also come into this game after an impressive showing at the Euros where they were one of the teams placed in the “Group of Death” alongside Germany, Portugal and France. Despite that, they proved to be awkward opposition for the giant nations drawing 1-1 with France and 2-2 with Germany.

They also held Portugal to a 0-0 scoreline till the 84th minute before a late flurry of goals by Portugal made it 3-0.

England will be wary of this Hungary side’s threat and will not be taking them lightly while the hosts would want to make their home advantage count. Hungary have made a fantastic start to their World Cup qualification campaign as they sit second in the table with two wins and a draw.

They are also currently the top scorer in the group with 10 goals scoring three or more goals in every qualification game so far.

Considering the recent form of both sides, we have an exciting fixture on our hands and as always I have included my three best bets in the preview below:

Team News:

Hungary: Adam Nagy is suspended, Loic Nego is in quarantine and Gergo Lovrencsics is injured.

England: Calvert-Lewin is injured while Tyrone Mings and Jadon Sancho are doubtful.

Hungary possible starting lineup:

Gulacsi; Botka, Orban, At. Szalai; Bolla, Schafer, Szoboszlai, Nagy, Fiola; Sallai, Ad. Szalai

England possible starting lineup:

Pickford; Walker, Stones, Maguire, Shaw; Rice, Phillips; Sterling, Mount, Grealish; Kane

• England WIN
• Hungary Over 0.5 cards
• Under 5 goals in the match for both teams combined

Despite the impressive Euros campaign by Hungary and home advantage, England have far too much quality in their ranks and should be able to come out on top against the hosts.

Hungary have received one or more cards in all of their World Cup qualification games as well as all of their European Championship games.

England have had under five goals in their last 11 games including the Euros, World cup qualifiers and friendlies. Combining these three selections give us a solid Bet Builder @ 5/6 with Bet365 and I am happy to stake 1pt on that as our main bet.

Harry Maguire is a constant threat from set pieces. His headed shot on target record in the Euros was as follows:

One against Germany, one against Ukraine which was a goal and two against Denmark.

The same bet was available close to 3/1 during the Euros and the bookies have priced it up @ 11/2 for this game so I have to get involved as this screams of value to me. Definitely worth a small 0.5pt stake.

Considering this bet landed in the Euros and England are expected to get plenty of set pieces against Hungary, this is a massive price for Maguire to get two headed attempts on target. I will take this as our longshot @ 50/1 for this world cup qualifier with a very small 0.25pt stake.

Best of luck if you follow these selections. Please always gamble responsibly.