Michael Owen(credit: Newcastle United)
Michael Owen demonstrated his ability to find the net against Israel on Saturday and Ladbrokes make the Newcastle striker a 6/4 shot that he does the same against Russia. It appears that Owen is starting to rediscover the form that has served England well in the past and the diminutive forward is 9/2 (bet direct) to score the first goal of the game.
It was Shaun Wright-Phillips backers who were celebrating on Saturday after the Chelsea winger sent England in front. This hasn’t stopped Sporting Bet making him a 16/1 chance to net first against the Russians, while Micah Richards (scorer of Saturday’s third goal) can be backed at 28/1 (Coral).
After a 3-0 victory of their own, Russia shouldn’t be too easily dismissed and their likeliest scorer could be Sevilla’s Aleksandr Kerzhakov who scored the third against Macedonia. He’s 12/1 (Stan James) to throw the cat amongst the pigeons on what will be a tense atmosphere on Wednesday night.