On 15th November at Wembley Stadium, England play host to Slovenia for Group E of the qualifying round for the UEFA European Championship of 2016.
One could call this the first spot derby. The two sides are leading the table in Group E with 9 and 6 points respectively. Even though Slovenia are tied with Lithuania, the surprise of the group is the downfall of Switzerland which were the favorites for the qualification.
England have a strong motive on this. They are not only undefeated, they are three for three with three clean sheets. A victory on this match would not only keep them at the top of the table, it will also maintain the 3 point lead against the second team, if and only if Lithuania manage to emerge victorious from their trip to Switzerland, which is an unlikely event. Therefore, by winning this, it is more than probable that England will be 6 points ahead of the competition.
Slovenia are currently in the second position and they too have a strong motive to pursue. With a win at Wembley they tie with England at the top spot and they maintain their hold on one of the two qualifying positions no matter what Lithuania and Switzerland do. But that is a tough proposition to follow against a team that has scored eight goals in three matches, while Slovenia has conceded one so far.
The momentum of the qualifying matches shows that England will score. The question is if they will manage to keep a fourth clean sheet in a row. Actually it will be a sixth consecutive clean sheet for all England matches and that would make for another motive as this will be a new national record.
Looking at this through history, England have won both previous matches against Slovenia at home and away. So this is another thing to take under consideration for the side that has the advantage. And there is no doubt that this side is England.