England v Serbia: Bellingham to star in 13/1 Bet Builder | OneFootball

Tuchel's men on a roll

After the low of a 3-1 home loss to Senegal in June followed by an underwhelming 2-0 home win over Andorra in September, Thomas Tuchel's England have really taken flight.

The turning point came when they travelled to Belgrade to face Thursday night's visitors, Serbia. Some were fearing the worst but England absolutely strolled it, goals from Harry Kane, Noni Madueke, Ezri Konsa, Marc Guehi and Marcus Rashford securing a 5-0 win.

The Three Lions followed that up with a 3-0 friendly success over Wales at Wembley before scoring five on the road again when cruising to victory against Latvia.

That 5-0 win in Riga - Kane (2), Anthony Gordon, Eberechi Eze and an own goal -  confirmed England's qualification for next summer's World Cup finals. From rather huffing and puffing, they've now won their last three games by an aggregate of 13-0.

England's next two games against Serbia (h) and Albania (a) will now give Tuchel a further chance to shape his line-up and that means the reintroduction of Jude Bellingham after the Real Madrid star was left out of the last squad.

Serbia under new management

It's been a much more troubling qualification campaign for Serbia, who switched managers last month.

A 1-0 home defeat to Albania was the end for Dragan Stojkovic and the reins were handed to Zoran Mirkovic for the clash with Andorra three days later. Serbia won it 3-1 but only after going behind.

Former Reading coach Veljko Paunovic has now been appointed and his immediate task is daunting. If Serbia lose at Wembley and Albania win away in Andorra, the Eagles won't even give themselves a shot at the playoffs despite still having a match to play.

That will be a crushing blow for a nation who reached the finals in 2010, 2018 and 2022.

England red-hot favourites

England are just 1/4 to win their 10th straight competitive match, something they've only managed once before (across 2014 and 2015).

The Three Lions also seem to be the international version of Arsenal in that they're very hard to score against. The stats show that England have shut out the opposition in their last eight competitive internationals.

That makes the visitors' hopes of getting a positive result much more unlikely and the odds show Serbia at 19/2, with the Draw 9/2.

England 'win to nil' is obviously going to be of interest and that's 10/11. A reminder that England have scored 18 goals without reply in their six group games.

Cash in on Kane

Here are some numbers for Harry Kane. He's scored 30 times in 38 appearances at Wembley and has 23 in 17 games for club and country this season.

The 8/11 for an anytime goal looks decent and certainly worth playing as a single.

I'll also use the Bayern Munich striker for part of a Bet Builder, the first two legs being a Kane goal and an England win.

The third leg surrounds a player who has something to prove and the big-time mentality to make it happen.

Bellingham can come back with a bang

Much discussion has been made of Jude Bellingham and England over the last few months, firstly surrounding his omission and then his return.

There's a school of thought that England cannot win a World Cup without the Real Madrid man sprinkling some magic dust at some point. And I'd agree with that.

After all, despite some mixed performances in the 2024 Euros, Bellingham got eventual finalists England out of jail with an injury-time equaliser in the last 16 against Slovakia while he'd scored the Three Lions' first goal of the tournament when heading home in a 1-0 win over... Serbia.

You get the feeling he'll be desperate to show that he's absolutely worth a place in the starting line-up and I'll back him to repeat what he did against Serbia last time and get the game's opening goal.

13/1.