2018 World Cup Qualifying – Malta vs England Preview

When? Friday 1st September, 19:45 (UK)

Where? Ta'Qali National Stadium

Where can I watch it? ITV1

Malta are still looking for their first points of this qualification group after six previous defeats. They are already eliminated from qualification as a consequence, and have only managed to score twice so far.

England have drawn two of their away qualifiers in this group as they were held by both Slovenia and Scotland.

Leigh Griffiths is the only player to have scored against England in this qualifying group.

Malta and England have met four times previously and England have a 100% record, scoring nine goals and conceding just one in the process.

England’s record victory over Malta was back in 1971 when they won 5-0 at Wembley in a Euro 1972 qualifier.

England have not lost a qualification match for a major tournament since the 2010 World Cup qualifiers, when they were defeated by Ukraine in October 2009 – an unbeaten streak of 35 games.

Malta have not won a major qualifier since June 2013, when they won away at Armenia in a 2014 World Cup qualifier. Michael Mifsud’s solitary goal was enough to give the Maltese national team a rare victory.

England have scored 10 goals in qualification so far – an average of 1.6 goals per game.

Gareth Southgate’s managerial record for England is as follows:

Played 8, Won 3, Drawn 3, Lost 2 – a win ratio of 37.5%.

This means that Southgate actually has the lowest win ratio of all England managers who have won at least one game while in charge. Should Southgate lead England to victory over Malta, he will leapfrog both Kevin Keegan and Joe Mercer in terms of win ratios.

Only three men have failed to win while in charge of England: Howard Wilkinson, Peter Taylor and Stuart Pearce.

This will be England’s first game since Wayne Rooney officially retired from international football.

Adam Lallana and Daniel Sturridge are England’s top scorers in 2018 World Cup qualification, with two goals apiece.

Eric Dier misses this game through suspension after picking up yellow cards against both Slovenia and Scotland. The only other player to have missed a 2018 World Cup qualifier because of suspension is Chelsea’s Gary Cahill, who had to sit out the home victory over Lithuania in March.

In comparison, Malta have had four red cards shown in just six matches.

Malta's Alfred Effiong misses this game through suspension due to yellow cards against Scotland in September 2016 and Slovenia in June of this year.

Malta’s Jonathan Carauna has the unwanted accolade of being sent off twice in qualification – a straight red against Scotland in September 2016 and the same again against Lithuania just a month later.