England face Moldova in a qualifier for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, with manager Roy Hodgson aware that anything other than three points at Wembley will seriously jeopardise his chances of leading the country to Brazil next summer.

The Moldavians, meanwhile, will be eager to continue their good run of late. Ion Caras' men registered their first win of 2013 with a 2-1 home defeat of Kyrgyzstan and are unbeaten in a competitive game since that loss to England.

The reverse fixture, in September last year, finished 5-0 with goals from Jermain Defoe, James Milner, Leighton Baines and a brace from Chelsea veteran Frank Lampard.

Roy Hodgson
Reuters

Where to Watch Live

Kick-off is scheduled for 8pm BST. Live coverage is on ITV and ITV HD. Radio commentary is available on BBC Radio 5 live.

Overview

Hodgson faces what is arguably a sterner test in the midweek fixture, when England travel to the Lobanovsky Dynamo Stadium to face Ukraine. The Eastern Europeans are only a point behind the English and both teams have a game in hand over group leaders Montenegro.

Failure to beat Moldova will severely complicate qualification for the 2014 World Cup and should Ukraine capitalise on that by beating San Marino at home (which they ought to), Hodgson will be left in third place at kick-off in Kiev.

And given qualification rules say only the winner of the group qualifies directly and only eight of the nine second placed teams advance to the play-offs. Therefore, even a second place finish in Group H will not guarantee progress.

Hodgson brings England into this game on the back of an unimpressive run of results. Massive wins in the qualifiers, home and away, against San Marino were soured by 1-1 draws at Poland and Montenegro; in both those games England were leading before conceding the draw.

Meanwhile, Moldova will send shockwaves around the world if they can hold England to a draw at Wembley, never mind beat them. The minnows are fifth in the group with five points and have all but ensured they will not finish bottom of the table; that honour goes to San Marino, who have yet to score a point in the group.

Moldova v England
Reuters

What the Managers Say

Roy Hodgson: "The loss of Wayne Rooney and Daniel Sturridge is a major blow. It was a straight choice in the end between Jermain Defoe and Lambert but Defoe has a slight injury and isn't playing for Spurs. Lambert has turned up fully fit and he starts."

Ion Caras: "I'm very happy to be here... a lot of great players and great teams never had the luck to play in this stadium [Wembley]. I was talking about the good parts to the draw. Now this is the bad part for us - the other team, England, are way too good for us unfortunately. So we'll see tomorrow. It's a big honour for my players to go out and train here. To have an official game in a World Cup qualifier is really a great honour."

Team Form

England

    • Last Five (all competitions, most recent first): W D D D L
    • Last Match: England 3 - 2 Scotland
    • Probable Line-Up: Hart; Walker, Jagielka, Cahill, Cole; Gerrard, Lampard, Wilshere; Walcott, Lambert, Welbeck

Moldova

    • Last Five (all competitions, most recent first): D W D L L
    • Last Match: Moldova 1 - 1 Andorra
    • Probable Line-Up:Pascenco; Epureanu, Golovatenco, Bulgaru, Suvorov; Ionita, Antoniuc, Sidorenco, Dedov; Gatcan, Grosu
Poland Ukraine Manchester United FC Wayne Rooney