30 Pound No Risk Offer - We'll Refund your losses on all bets up to 30 Pounds accross the next 7 Days

Andy's tips: Egypt will prove a tough test

It's a shame the whole Wayne Bridge/John Terry affair has overshadowed what will be a really good test for England and an important one in their preparations for the World Cup. The biggest problem now for Fabio Capello is that the back five he picks to face Egypt will bear no resemblance to the five he'll select for England's opener against the USA, or at least the five he'd like to pick.

Capello's no closer to knowing who his keeper is, for starters. It will be one from David James, Robert Green, Paul Robinson or Ben Foster but none of them have been in particularly great form this season, while Joe Hart could be given his chance on Wednesday. We know Ashley Cole is his first-choice left-back but we also know he'll be injured for the Egypt match and we also know that Wayne Bridge won't feature. Glen Johnson is first-choice right-back but he's also out injured, as is new skipper Rio Ferdinand. All of which means that of his preferred back five only John Terry is certain to start on Wednesday night.

Thankfully, things are simpler in midfield. Gareth Barry, Frank Lampard and Steven Gerard are all in decent form and fit which just leaves one place up for grabs, which could go to one of the Aston Villa players - James Milner or Stewart Downing. It could be that Wayne Rooney plays up front by himself at the World Cup but for Wednesday's match I'd expect Capello to go with two up top and if that's the case Jermain Defoe should get the nod over team-mate Peter Crouch and another Villa player in Emile Heskey.

Egypt are a solid side. We know they missed out on a World Cup place in the most dramatic of circumstances against arch-rivals Algeria in a play-off but that they gained some sort of revenge by going on to win the African Nations Cup a couple of months later, beating none other than Algeria in the semis along the way.

They were by far the most organised and disciplined of all the sides at the tournament and were the deserved winners but let's face it, the best African sides aren't quite in the same league as the best European sides and England at Wembley will be a far tougher proposition than anything they faced in Angola. I don't think England will hammer them but I think they'll win by two goals or more.

Recommended Bet: Back England -1.5 at [2.1] on the Asian Handicap

What do you make of Andy's England tip? Let us know below...

Published: 3 Mar 2010 - Tags: Andy Gray , Mohamed Zidan , Wayne Rooney