England v Uruguay Tips: Madueke to star plus a sensible 7/2 bet builder

Historically, England haven't fared well against Uruguay, a truth that can be extended to South American nations as a whole. This Friday evening at Wembley could go against that grain.

With Federico Valverde, Giorgian de Arrascaeta and Darwin Nunez in their ranks La Celeste will of course pose a threat to Thomas Tuchel's fine record as England boss, that amounts to nine wins in ten.

Typically though Uruguay don't travel well under Marcelo Bielsa, only winning once away from the Estadio Centenario in their last ten, and that against Uzbekistan. They're hardly prolific either, scoring 0.8 goals per 90 across their last 20 outings, home or away.

Hosts backed to prevail

Let's put it out there. Uruguay are more than capable of smothering the game to few chances and eking out a 0-0 stalemate. It's a result they have produced against Mexico, Chile, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Ecuador and Venezuela in the last calendar year. They're rather good at it.

Another 0-0 offers up 9/110.00

But with England's understudies desperate to impress and the Three Lions last failing to get on the scoresheet 20 games ago a tight win to nil feels like the best option here.

Yes we have to factor in that a lot of minnows have been encountered lately, but it still impresses that England have scored 2+ goals in 81% of their fixtures post Euro 2024.

As for their defensive acumen, England have kept 11 clean sheets in their last 12. Indeed, they haven't conceded now for nine hours.

Madueke to get the nod and make the difference

With Kane, Saka and Gordon not joining up until the weekend this leaves a range of fascinating forward options for the England gaffer to go with.

Concerning the number nine role it feels like a straight shoot-out between the two Dominics - Solanke and Calvert-Lewin. That is more of a coin-flip than the latter's recent goal-drought for Leeds suggests.

With more certainty we can surmise that Noni Madueke will get the nod over Jarrod Bowen down the right and the Arsenal man boasts a decent record on the international stage, with a goal involvement every 125 minutes.

Ugarte in the thick of it

Manuel Ugarte may be a peripheral figure at Old Trafford but the 24-year-old is a key component in Bielsa's side. Situated at the base of Uruguay's midfield he is tasked with negating central creativity, in this instance probably originating from Cole Palmer.

Naturally therefore we can expect some fouls to be committed along the way, Ugarte averaging 2.17 per 90 for United this term. He's been fouled 1.41 times per 90 for good measure.

A booking too would hardly be out of the question. Intriguingly, his last six for his country have come in away fixtures.

This being a friendly however - where refs tend to be more lenient - let's stick on the misdemeanours.

7/24.50 Wembley Bet Builder

Uruguay shipped in five goals against the USMNT last November, the most they have conceded in a game for two decades, but we have to view this in isolation. The shock that accompanied the result is proof enough of that.

Conceding just 21 goals in Bielsa's prior 32 games in charge is a much truer representation of their defensive solidity and it would gobsmack if a goal-fest ensued on Friday.

Under 2.5 goals therefore is a sensible shout, as too is saying no to a goal scored in both halves.

On a more positive footing however, Marcus Rashford is fancied in the shots market, the 28-year-old tipped to start down the left.

He has let fly every 17.8 minutes for Barcelona in 2026 and every 25 minutes for England since last summer.

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Now read Jones Knows Notebook on Tuchel's squad selection and who makes the plane here