England vs Uruguay betting tips and predictions: Darwin Nunez back to haunt Three Lions?

England begin their preparations for the summer’s World Cup in USA, Mexico and Canada with a friendly contest against Uruguay at Wembley on Friday night.

Manager Thomas Tuchel has named a bumper 35-man squad, but many of the Three Lions’ top performers will not join the group until after the clash with La Celeste.

We have a trio of selections for a game which may not go all England’s way.

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England vs Uruguay betting tips

• Uruguay draw no bet @ 4/1
• Under 2.5 goals @ 8/11
• Darwin Nunez to score at any time @ 31/10

Three Lions could be caught sleeping

A full-strength England side would be deserved favourites against Uruguay on Friday, but the Three Lions will be fielding a team from a depleted pride and the market may have overrated Thomas Tuchel’s men.

Marc Guehi, Ezri Konsa, Elliot Anderson, Declan Rice, Anthony Gordon and Harry Kane are among the stars unavailable to Tuchel until after Friday night’s Wembley contest, and this was already a squad without Reece James and Eberechi Eze.

That’s a huge chunk of quality to miss, and while England have a deep roster, it may not be strong enough to make the Three Lions 9/20 chances at Wembley.

Tuchel’s side have won five games on the bounce, but wins against Andorra, Latvia, Serbia, Wales and Albania are hardly world-beating results, and prior to those games, England were beaten 3-1 by Senegal in a friendly tie at the City Ground.

The slight concern is that Uruguay boss Marcelo Bielsa was experimenting with his line-up in last year’s run of friendly matches, but the World Cup is drawing closer and the Sky Blues have a strong squad deployed in London.

Federico Valverde, Manuel Ugarte, Darwin Nunez and Maximiliano Araujo are part of an excellent Uruguay side and the Charruas are coached to the minute by the superb Bielsa.

At 4/1, Uruguay have to be an option on the draw no bet market. 

Wembley could run dry

England have a large number of forwards to choose from on Friday night, but it’s a wonder as to how many of Jarrod Bowen, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Harvey Barnes, Phil Foden, Noni Madueke, Cole Palmer, Marcus Rashford and Dominic Solanke can provide a reliable flow of goals against good international opposition.

The Three Lions have seen four of their last six competitive games go under 2.5 goals and Tuchel’s defensive outlook has seen them keep a clean sheet in 11 of their last 12 outings.

Uruguay have seen eight of their last 11 matches fail to bust the 2.5 mark and unders rates a play at Wembley.

Darwin an evolving threat

Veteran strikers Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani have both retired from international duty, which leaves Darwin Nunez with an opportunity to lead from the front.

The former Liverpool forward has hit six goals in the Saudi Pro League this season and the Al-Hilal man is averaging 3.09 shots per 90 minutes.

Clearly, that’s a low level, but Nunez has struck ten times in his last 19 international appearances and the 26-year-old can fire at Wembley.

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Odds correct at time of publish and subject to change*

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