London: England will move six points clear of Montenegro and confirm their position as favourite to win Group G if they beat British rivals Wales at Wembley on Tuesday.
Victory could see the Three Lions all but confirm qualification for Euro 2012 because of their near-unassailable goal difference as the visitors hope to build on their win against Montenegro. If they beat Wales as expected on Tuesday, England will need only a draw in Montenegro next month to qualify.
The first meeting between the two sides in this qualifying group ended 2-0 to England. England have been held to draws twice so far in qualifying, against Switzerland and Montenegro, with both coming at Wembley.
England, who are yet to lose a fixture in Group G, have suffered two withdrawals from their squad due to injury, with Micah Richards and Darren Bent being sent back to their clubs. However, neither featured at all against Bulgaria and should not be a big miss.
Frank Lampard has been told this week by boss Fabio Capello that he needs to improve his club form to get back into the starting XI and thus is unlikely to trouble Scott Parker or Gareth Barry for a place in central midfield.
Wales will have to cope without the suspended Craig Bellamy and David Vaughan after the pair picked up bookings in the victory over Montenegro.
They can be heartened, however, by the return of experienced defender James Collins and are hopeful that West Ham midfielder Jack Collison will recover from the illness that kept him out on Friday in order to take his place in the team.
Meanwhile, second-placed Montenegro's defeat in Wales on Friday has given renewed hope to Switzerland of taking the runners-up spot.
The Swiss are at home to a troubled Bulgarian side where coach Lothar Matthaeus has dropped Stanislav Manolev, Spas Delev and Alexander Tunchev following their 3-0 defeat to England.
Matthaeus said Delev needed to be "taught a lesson" after having a heated discussion with the coach, while Manolev responded by quitting the national side.
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