Milner confident of double delight

James Milner says the England players are confident they can beat San Marino and Montenegro to take control of their 2014 World Cup qualification group.

The Three Lions go into the double header two points behind group leaders Montenegro with four games played and are priced at 1.36 to win Group H.

Roy Hodgson's men are full of confidence as their bid to reach the 2014 World Cup gets back underway having beaten Brazil last time out in a friendly.

However, there preparations haven't been help by a series of injuries to the squad's centre-halfs, with Rio Ferdinand, Phil Jagielka and Michael Dawson out of both matches.

Gary Cahill will also miss the game with San Marino on Friday, but has an outside chance of returning in time to take on Montenegro.

While Friday's game with group minnows San Marino should be a stroll in the park for England, the trip to Podgorica the following week will be a tough examination of how far the squad has come under Hodgson.

Milner is backing England to pick up maximum points from both games and says he can see a marked improvement in how the team is performing in training.

"These are two big games for us - we're moving forward all the time and that's a positive. You'll see improvements in the team," he told Sky Sports News.

"Both games will be great, the sort you want to play in and they're tough games. It's important we keep doing the right things."

Milner went on to say he wasn't worried about losing players to injury and claims England have the strength in depth to cope with the withdrawals.

"We still have a strong squad, the players coming in are decent so I have no worries at all," he added.

"Hopefully we can score an early goal against San Marino and then get a few more. All we can do is beat them and take it into Tuesday."

England are 1.01 to beat San Marino on Friday night, with the hosts 81.00 to cause a major upset.

Don't forget all of the fantastic markets, including In-Play betting, can be accessed on your mobile phone with the new and improved Mobile at bet365.

http://www.ukbettips.co.uk/images/stories/Joomla/StiriRSS/james-milner.jpg via today's-betting-football-news http://www.ukbettips.co.uk/football-betting-news/4495-milner-confident-of-double-delight.html