If the Football Association was worried that Saturday's England vs. Malta 2018 World Cup qualifier at Wembley might struggle to capture the country's interest, the departure of Sam Allardyce has guaranteed a disproportionate focus on a match featuring the side which is 157th in the FIFA rankings. The game is a 90,000 sell-out crowd.
Gareth Southgate starts what most see as a four-game audition to secure the job permanently and he could hardly have wished for an easier start. Beating Malta at home rates a close third after death and taxes in the league of certainties. England has scored in 14 of its last 15 competitive games. The only time it has failed to score in that time was against Slovakia at Euro 2016. With next Tuesday's trip to Slovenia in mind, England is unbeaten in its last 14 away games (excluding neutral venues). The last defeat was a 4-2 loss to Sweden in November 2012.
While England implodes at finals, when it comes to qualifying nobody does it better. Allardyce's only match in charge, the 1-0 win in Slovakia last month, was its 13th qualifying win in a row. England is, in fact, unbeaten in its last 30 qualifiers since a 1-0 defeat away to Ukraine in October 2009. Far- from-mighty Malta will be number 31.