Date: Friday, 6 September Venue: Wembley Stadium Kick-Off: 20:00 BST England welcome Moldova to Wembley Stadium for Friday's World Cup qualifying encounter.
Team News
England manager Roy Hodgson will be without a quad of players for Friday night's World Cup qualifier. Wayne Rooney, Phil Jones and Glen Johnson have withdrawn from the squad to face Moldova and Ukraine with respective head and ankle injuries. Daniel Sturridge meanwhile will miss the Moldova game but will have his thigh injury assessed ahead of next Tuesday's clash with Ukraine. Sturridge will be replaced by Southampton star Rickie Lambert, while Arsenal's Jack Wilshere is also expected to feature in spite of a bout of stomach cramps last week. Meanwhile, Cardiff defender Steven Caulker, 21, has been called into the squad and could be in line to earn only his second cap for the Three Lions. Moldova go into this tie on the back of some decent results after a brace of 1-1 draws with Poland and Andorra last month, and will be hoping the goal-scorer in the latter tie - Alexandru Dedov - will continue his run of form. Manager Ion Caras is expected to line up with a defensive 4-5-1 formation. (source: bbc)
Key Stats
England currently trail Montenegro by two points in Group H with a game in hand and are only one point ahead of Ukraine. England won the away fixture against Moldova 5-0 last year. England have won all three meetings between the two sides, with their last clash at Wembley ending in a 4-0 win to the Three Lions in September 1997.
Likely Line-Ups
England Hart, Walker, Jagielka, Cahill, Baines, Carrick, Gerrard, Wilshere, Walcott, Lambert, Welbeck Moldova Pascenco, Epureanu, Golovatenco, Bulgaru, Suvorov, Ionita, Antoniuc, Sidorenco, Dedov, Gatcan, Grosu Now click "Next" for our Match Preview
Joseph is an accredited football journalist and has interviewed nearly all of the current 20 Barclay's Premier League managers. He is also a correspondent for Bleacher Report and has written for Caught Offside and Give Me Football.
