England vs Albania Prediction & Tips

Dean Smith 21 Mar 2025

England vs Albania Predictions

Full Time Result: Home win
Correct Score: 2-0
Both Teams To Score: No
Over 2.5 Goals: No
First Goalscorer: Harry Kane

England vs Albania Tips

Tip 1

We’ve got two Harry Kane-based tips for Thomas Tuchel’s first England game and first of all we’re backing him to open the scoring against Albania. The Bayern Munich man has scored 21 goals in the Bundesliga this season, opening the scoring on seven occasions and as his nation’s top goalscorer with 69 goals in 103 appearances, he can almost always be relied on to find the net for his country.

However, this is potentially a turning point in Kane’s England career. Despite scoring three times, the 31 year old came in for criticism at last summer’s European Championships and with so many talented strikers chasing his tail including Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins and Tottenham Hotspur’s Dominic Solanke, Kane will have to step up and show his worth again during this qualifying campaign. What’s more, his relationship with his former die Roten boss Thomas Tuchel has been the subject of speculation in the press after the German was sacked by the Bundesliga outfit last year.

Kane scored eight times in eight games in England’s qualifying campaign for that last tournament, including the opening goals in wins over North Macedonia and Ukraine and as captain, he’ll look to lead by example by getting Tuchel’s reign off to a flying start with the opening goal at Wembley on Friday night.

Tip 2

We’re sticking with the centre-forward for tip two and liking the look of the 1/1 boost on offer from Betfair on Kane to be fouled twice in this game against a combative Albania outfit.

Since the European Championships, Sylvinho’s men have given away a minimum of 10 fouls in each of their five Nations League matches and in players like Arlind Ajeti of Bodrum and skipper Berat Gjimshiti, Kuqezinjte possess some physical defenders who will no doubt get involved in duels with Kane, who has been known to use his nous to win free-kicks from those situations throughout his illustrious career.

It’s worth noting that Kane has been winning several fouls of late, earning nine free-kicks in his last six matches for Bayern Munich, including three in the second leg of the Champions League victory over Bayer Leverkusen. Expect him to be embroiled in a battle with the Albanian defence but with the quality he has, he’s likely to come out on top in that battle.

England Form, Team News & Predicted Line-Up

England will begin a new era under Thomas Tuchel following the short-lived interim spell of Lee Carsley through the Autumn international breaks.

The former Birmingham City player won five of his six games in charge of the Three Lions’ to win promotion back to the top division of the Nations League and although a home defeat to Greece was probably enough to convince the FA not to give him the job full-time, in truth England’s performances in their other five games were confident and comfortable and they totalled 16 goals in those games, conceding only three.

Tuchel’s first squad selection has raised plenty of eyebrows, but a few players miss out on the 23 through injury including Trent Alexander-Arnold, Cole Palmer, Kobbie Mainoo, Jack Grealish and Bukayo Saka. Of those in the 23, Morgan Gibbs-White, Jarell Quansah and Aaron Ramsdale have been left out of the matchday squad for this fixture, but will hope to feature on Monday against Latvia.

England Predicted XI: Pickford, Walker, Guehi, Colwill, Burn, Henderson, Rice, Foden, Bellingham, Bowen, Kane

Albania Form, Team News & Predicted Line-Up

Albania produced three strong performances at Euro 2024 last summer and as a result they were desperately unlucky to only pick up one point from a very difficult group where they faced previous holders Italy, Croatia and eventual winners Spain.

They were unable to take any momentum from that progressive performance in Germany into their Nations League campaign however, winning only two of their six games in September, October and November and finishing bottom of their group as a result, losing their last match 1-2 at home to Ukraine.

Sylvinho will be without a handful of key players for the trip to Wembley, including one of the most experienced members of the squad in Lazio’s Elseid Hysaj. He misses out alongside midfielder Keidi Bare, youngster Mario Mitaj and the attacking duo of Mirlund Daku and Indrit Tuci.

Albania Predicted XI: Strakosha, Balliu, Ismajli, Djimsiti, Aliji, Asllani, Ramadani, Asani, Bajrami, Muci, Manaj

England vs Albania Head-to-Head Record

England have a good record in previous meetings with Albania, having won all six of their matches against the nation – all of which have come in World Cup qualifying.

The last match between the two sides took place in November 2021, when Gareth Southgate’s men cruised to a 5-0 win with Harry Maguire and Jordan Henderson scoring goals alongside a Harry Kane hat-trick.

Brazil vs Colombia Prediction & Tips

Nations League Predictions & Tips – Sunday 23rd March

Free Bets & Offers

Bet £10 Get £40 in Free Bets