In the absence of the injured Andy Carroll and Wayne Rooney, the pressure will be on Jermaine Defoe to find the goals. The Tottenham Hotspur player is set to play with Manchester United’s Danny Welbeck upfront. Another player who is expected to make a difference in the attacking department is Daniel Sturridge.
England will play to score and win but Jermaine Defoe is predicting a rather tight game. “At this level, every game is difficult. [Moldova] will make it hard and sit behind the ball and try to frustrate us,” Defoe told reporters.
Moldova are 137th in the FIFA World Rankings; in other words, 129 places below England. Despite the immense gap between the two countries, Oxlade-Chamberlain insists that Moldova’s inferiority will not decrease England’s will to strike. The Arsenal youngster told the press ahead of Friday’s World Cup qualifying match:
“We will approach the game in the same way whether we are playing Brazil or Moldova. We will look to win the game and play it in the right way.”
Moldova’s last five matches (all friendlies)
November 11, 2011: Georgia 2-0 Moldova
February 29, 2012: Moldova 0-0 Belarus
May 24, 2012: Venezuela 4-0 Moldova
May 26, 2012: El Salvador 2-0 Moldova
August 15, 2012: Albania 0-0 Moldova
England’s last five matches
June 11, 2012: France 1-1 England
June 15, 2012: Sweden 2-3 England
June 19, 2012: England 1-0 Ukraine
June 24, 2012: England 0-0 (2-4) Italy
August 15, 2012: England 2-1 Italy
Prediction
Scores: Moldova 0-2 England
