It’s not been an easy road to Poland and Ukraine for the Three Lions: while they stayed unbeaten in a qualifying campaign where they trounced Bulgaria 4-0 and won tricky away fixtures, competitively England have drawn to Switzerland unexpectedly and even against lowly Montenegro. There’s been a managerial switch; the experienced Italian Fabio Capello resigned in February and was replaced a short while ago by the experienced Englishman Roy Hodgson. It’s also hard to judge where England are in the run up to the tournament, and how they’ll actually do.

England’s squad seems to be changing by the day as more injuries pile in. The latest, Frank Lampard, was ruled out on Thursday to be replaced by Jordan Henderson, but there are still doubts over Glen Johnson and Danny Welbeck as Hodgson edges closer to finalising his tournament squad. England also haven’t been too inspiring of late; their last five games consisting of three 1-0 victories, a 3-2 loss to the Netherlands and a 2-2 draw in Montenegro. Meanwhile, tomorrow’s opponents should be a good barometer of England’s success this summer: while the Belgians have not qualified for this year’s tournament, they very nearly qualified for the playoffs in a group containing Germany and Turkey.

Moreover, with talent such as Kompany, Vermaelen, Fellaini, Witsel, Hazard and Defour, Belgium could have even contended for the trophy this summer, had the qualification gone more favourably.

Head to Head

While neither side has played each other in almost 13 years, there has been twenty encounters between the sides. 13 is actually a key number between the sides: England have won 13 of the 20 encounters, the most memorable perhaps coming during the 1954 World Cup: England winning 5-0 with help from Nat Lofthouse, who scored a brace that day.

Key Player Watch

Both sides have many players who are important to how they play. Belgium’s star man is for many Eden Hazard, who is set to head over to Chelsea after a year of almost unbroken speculation as to his future. The Lille midfielder is one of two players to have both scored and assisted 15 goals this year; the other, predictably, is Lionel Messi. Hazard is probably the hottest property in Europe at the moment, and even at the young age of 21 looks set to have a long, glorious career.

From England’s point of view it is a lot more confusing. There are a lot of players who could be named the key man; Scott Parker was the metronome in midfield against Norway and added a defensive side to the midfield, while Joe Hart will surely return, being possibly England’s only world-class shot stopper. However, Ashley Young has made his England jersey his own of late, and while his performance was slightly off peak in Oslo, the Manchester United winger still managed to net the only goal of the game. If Young plays well, it’ll be a tough night for Kompany and co under the Wembley arch.

Ludicrous Prediction

Based on England’s players having slightly more to play for, and the assumption that Phil Jones won’t be played as a right back, at Ludicrous Display we’re very tempted to make England favourites for this game. A 2-1 victory seems quite realistic for the Three Lions, and should give them the impetus going into their Group D opener against France in 10 days.