Brazil to bring the goals to Wembley

6Feb 2013

Betfair

Brazil travel to England for a friendly that can be seen live on ITV1 from 19:30 and Paul Robinson is predicting that terrestrial viewers could be in for a feast of goals this evening.

England have started relatively steadily under Roy Hodgson. A quarter-final exit on penalties at the Euros is pretty standard fare and although they've only managed draws with Ukraine and Poland in their qualifying group for the next World Cup, they have beaten Belarus, Moldova and San Marino with ease.

One thing that has improved under the new manager is that the goals have started to flow better. The Three Lions put five past Moldova and San Marino and they netted five times in two games against Sweden. Since Euro 2012 finished, four of their six fixtures have gone over 2.5 goals and the other two just missed out, finishing in 1-1 draws.

An injury crisis up front may mean that a pairing of Wayne Rooney and Theo Walcott is experimented with for part of the match and neither could be in much better form for their respective clubs. Since returning from injury Rooney has netted three times in his last two and prior to his enforced absence he had scored five in four in the league. Walcott has 11 goals and 10 assists to his name in the Premier League this year, which is already his best return and we're only in February.

Brazil are warming up for the World Cup they host in 2014 by playing friendlies all around the world. The Samba boys haven't lost since a 4-3 defeat to arch rivals Argentina back in June of last year and 10 of their last 13 fixtures have all gone over 2.5 goals.

Luiz Felipe Scolari has been reappointed as manager and tonight is his first match back in charge. Big Phil once turned down the England job and while he did go on to manage Chelsea, he won't exactly have fond memories of his time on these shores.

Ronaldinho has been brought back into the fold after impressing for his club and it is possible that he and Neymar could form a deadly partnership up front. Neymar is the most sought after young talent in the world and with over 100 goals already for Santos it's easy to see why.

This match has all the makings of a bit of a goal fest to me so with under 2.5 goals trading around the 1.99 mark, I simply have to make it my lay of the day.