Harry Kane is a major doubt to spearhead England’s attack against Wales at Wembley as he struggles to shake off an ankle injury and that leaves his fellow Three Lions forwards with big boots to fill.
The Bayern Munich striker is one of the top finishers in the game and has taken his talents to new heights by scoring with a ferocious regularity since the start of the season.
The England captain has netted a whopping 18 times in ten appearances for club and country, only firing a blank in Bayern’s 3-2 league success at Augsburg, on his way to becoming the fastest player to score 100 goals for a club playing in one of Europe’s top five league, reaching the milestone in 104 matches to beat both Cristiano Ronaldo and Erling Haaland by one game.
Kane is also Tottenham’s record goalscorer with 280 goals in 435 appearances, and he is streets ahead in the England reckoning with 74 goals compared to the 53 netted by nearest rival Wayne Rooney.
He has won three Premier League Golden Boots, another at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, and has been top scorer in the Bundesliga as well as claiming the Golden Shoe as top club scorer in Europe last season and he was also joint-top scorer at Euro 2024.
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Throw into the mix his 30 goals in 38 England internationals at Wembley and he leaves a big hole to be filled.
Ollie Watkins would be the obvious choice but he has only scored once for Aston Villa in a sluggish start to the campaign while Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden and Cole Palmer are not in Thomas Tuchel’s squad.
Declan Rice is always a threat for club and country but is not a prolific marksman, so preference goes to his Arsenal team-mate Bukayo Saka, who has found the net on his last two appearances for the Gunners since returning from injury.
Saka has also scored a creditable 12 times in 44 appearances for the Three Lions and is adept at taking penalties making him worth following at 6/1 with bet365 and Unibet to break the deadlock against the Dragons and 2/1 with BetMGM to score at any time.
England are 20/23 to lead HT/FT and 10/11 with Betway and BetVictor to win to nil as Wales have only scored once in their last eight internationals with their closest neighbours.
Wales, to their credit, are likely to play a relatively open and attacking game as they seek to judge how good they are in the post-Gareth Bale era, so a 3-0 home win is worth backing at 13/2 with bet365, Betfred, Betway, BoyleSports despite Kane’s likely absence.
American Football odds
New York Giants rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart threw two interceptions and lost a fumble in the 26-14 loss in New Orleans and hasn’t been helped by a season-ending injury to star wide receiver Malik Nabers.
There are encouraging signs that he could develop into a decent passer but he will go through more growing pains at home to division rivals the Philadelphia Eagles in this week’s Thursday Night Football encounter.
The defending Super Bowl champions have made a strong start with four wins from five outings and are 20/23 with bet365 to lead HT/FT and 13/8 with BetGoodwin and Boylesports to win by more than a touchdown.
Eagles running back Saquon Barkley is 5/8 gold with bet365 to score a touchdown against his former team and the same firm go 15/4 Dart arrows into the end zone in reply.
Darts odds
Gerwyn Price dug deep, registering finishes of 138 and 94 in his 3-2 first-round victory over Ryan Searle, and he will have to do so again to beat Josh Rock if he is to make further progress at the World Grand Prix in Leicester.
Rock edged out Ryan Joyce in a deciding leg nerve-jangler in his opening contest but ‘The Iceman’ can send him home by winning 3-2 at 4/1 with BetMGM. Luke Littler will have an easier time against defending champion Mike De Decker and is 12/5 with Betfred to win 3-1.