The European 2018 World Cup qualifiers, which take place over the next week, got underway last night and there were expected wins for Group A leaders France against Holland, but second placed Sweden lost away against third place Bulgaria who closed the gap to one point. Group H leaders Belgium thrashed bottom of the group Gibraltar and Group B leaders Switzerland were comfortable winners against Andora, as were Group B second Portugal against the Faroe Islands.

Tonight, there’s plenty of home nations action; England travel to Malta who are bottom of Group F with no points and have lost all of their six games so far, so it should just be a matter of how many goals can England score. Scotland who are fourth in Group F on eight points travel to Lithuania and really need to win if they are to keep their qualification hopes alive as second place Slovakia on 12 points host third place Slovenia on 11 points, and a draw would be a great result for Scotland if they can win.

Northern Ireland have no such troubles at present as they are clear second in Group C behind Germany on 13 points. They are four clear of third place Czech Republic who face Germany at home tonight, and Northern Ireland face bottom of the group San Marino away tonight, who have lost all six of their games conceding 30 and scoring just once, so it should be a high scoring win to nil in favour of the visitors.