World Cup 2010 Qualifiers - England vs Croatia betting

England play Croatia at Wembley tonight, hoping to avenge the last time these two sides met at the English stadium, when Croatia beat England 3-2 to ensure that England did not qualify for Euro 2008.

England are odds on to win, priced at 8/13 (bet $13 to make $8 profit), whilst Croatia are 13/2 for the win. The draw is priced at 14/5.

There is a lot of controversy about team selection for the match. Jermain Defoe is expected not to start despite scoring 5 goals in his last 3 England games. Defoe has been very effective coming off the bench, scoring twice against Holland and also against Slovenia on Saturday as a sub. Emile Heskey is rated at evens to start ahead of him. Defoe is rated at 2/1 to start and 4/6 to be on the bench. He is also 4/1 to come off the bench and score, which is an interesting price based on his propensity for doing so recently.

Wayne Rooney is the 5/1 favourite to score first, followed by Defoe at 6/1, then Peter Crouch at 7/1, and then Heskey, Frank Lampard and Carlton Cole who are all at 8/1. Croatia’s main threats are Eduardo who is priced at 9/1 and Mladen Petric and Ivica Olic who are 10/1 and 11/1 to open the scoring.

You can get England to win 1-0 at 11/2, 2-0 at 6/1 and 3-0 at 11-1. A 2-1 win for England is priced at 8/1 and 3-1 is at 12/1. A 0-0 draw is 9/1, 1-1 is 6/1 and 2-2 is 16/1. Croatia are 11/1 to win 1-0, 33/1 to win 2-0 and 20/1 to win 2-1.

Croatia will be without their star-player Luka Modric after he broke his leg playing for Tottenham. They are also without Vedran Corluka who is suspended. Goalkeeper Stipe Pletikosa and midfielder Ivan Juric are also out due to injury.

England midfielder Theo Walcott, who scored a hat trick when England beat Croatia in Zagreb last year, is out with a back injury. Joe Cole and Rio Ferdinand will also miss the game due to injury.

Click here for all England vs Croatia betting odds