England v Switzerland

Wednesday 6th February 8pm - Wembley (Live on BBC1)

So a nice gentle start for Fabio Capello – what could be easier than a home game against a team built around Philippe Senderos? There’ll be some grumbling about Beckham being denied a 100th cap, and a few eyebrows raised about his team selection, but there’ll probably be a greater sense of anticipation surrounding the progress of Capello’s command of English than anything that might happen on the pitch. This game is, after all, a quite unwanted reminder that England failed to qualify for Euro ’08. So the sooner it’s over, the better. Unless you have something on it, of course.

Capello to get off to a winning start...

• Switzerland have not beaten England home or away since 1981. England have won three and drawn two of the intervening meetings.
• England’s last four permanent managers (McClaren, Keegan, Hoddle, Venables) all won their opening match in charge of the national side. Caretaker Peter Taylor also won his, only caretaker Howard Wilkinson suffered defeat in his first fixture (out of two) during that period.
• In the 19 meetings between the sides, England have won 12 and have only lost three.
• England have won three of their last four internationals at Wembley, all of which have been 3-0 victories.
• Switzerland have never won at Wembley, of the six meetings between the sides at ‘the home of football’ England have won three and drawn three.
• Switzerland have lost three of their last four friendlies away from home.
• England lost their last international 3-2 at home to Croatia, but have not suffered successive defeats since 1993 when they lost to Norway and then to USA.

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Switzerland to spoil the party...

• England have lost two and drawn one of their last three friendlies on home soil.
• Switzerland have won three of their last six internationals (home and away), including an impressive 2-1 win over the Netherlands.
• The last time Switzerland visited the United Kingdom for a friendly was in 2006, on that occasion they beat Scotland 3-1 at Hampden Park.

The draw...

• Two of the last three contests between the sides have ended all square, including their last meeting at Wembley in Euro ’96.

Or maybe not...

• Switzerland have only drawn one of their last 18 internationals in all competitions and none of their last six have ended with honours even. Similarly, England have not drawn any of their last eight internationals.

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