Germany v England Betting: Defences set to prevail when old rivals meet

Gareth Southgate will be hoping to get his career as full-time England manager off to a flying start when his side take on Germany at the Westfalenstadion in Wednesday’s high profile friendly match.
 
Unbeaten in four games as caretaker boss, the new Three Lions coach is priced at 19/5 (4.80) with Betfair Sportsbook to celebrate his first match since taking over permanently by beating the current world champions.
 
However, Die Mannschaft have won five and lost none of their five matches since crashing out of Euro 2016 at the semi-final stage, and are 8/11 (1.73) favourites to come out on top here.

Getty Images
 
None of the last eight encounters between these teams have resulted in draws, but you can get odds of 5/2 (3.50) on them cancelling each other out on this occasion.
 
Much has changed in the 12 months since the sides came face-to-face in Berlin last March, when Roy Hodgson’s team came back from a 2-0 half-time deficit to record a memorable 3-2 victory.
 
With Hodgson departed following an embarrassing Euro 2016 elimination to Iceland and Sam Allardyce having lasted just one game in the dugout, Southgate must now rally a team that seems slightly bereft of the exciting attacking vigour displayed in the German capital one year ago. Goal
 
Having lost Harry Kane, Daniel Sturridge and Wayne Rooney to injury, the former Middlesbrough boss has omitted Danny Welbeck, Theo Walcott and Andy Carroll due to lack of game time and instead recalled the 34-year-old Jermain Defoe and stuck with Jamie Vardy and Marcus Rashford despite their shortage of goals this campaign.
 
This makeshift frontline will have its work cut out to penetrate a German defence that has kept 11 clean sheets in their last 13 fixtures, including the last six in a row.
 
Nevertheless, having conceded in only one of their last five fixtures themselves, odds of 19/20 (1.95) seem more than reasonable on England ensuring under 2.5 goals are scored when they take on Joachim Low’s men.