England vs New Zealand top tip: Why to back England to Keep a Clean Sheet at 4/11

The World Cup will soon be upon us, and England are already in North America finalising their preparations for what they hope will be a summer for the history books.

Thomas Tuchel's side will play their first group game on June 17 against Croatia, but they are scheduled to play friendlies against New Zealand and Costa Rica before the start of their campaign.

England will play New Zealand on Saturday, and while the Kiwis will also want to come into the World Cup in strong form, it is no surprise to see that bet365 have priced an English win at 1/10 (1.1)

Saturday's clash will not only be a good opportunity for the Three Lions to test their offensive firepower, but it will help Tuchel to see whether there is any complacency in his new-look defence.

Whether leaving Harry Maguire at home was the right call remains to be seen, but England will hope that his leadership is not missed on the weekend.

Can England keep a clean sheet against New Zealand?

Tuchel has always managed to instil defensive discipline into his sides at club level, though coaching on the international stage represents a different challenge.

Under the head coach, the Three Lions have kept nine clean sheets in his 12 games as boss, and the only teams to have scored against them are Senegal, Uruguay and Japan.

It should be noted that clashes against the latter two represent their two most recent matches, with England settling for a 1-1 stalemate with Uruguay on March 27 before losing 1-0 to Japan four days later.

While England failed to keep opponents out in March, the lineups that they fielded in those games were far from their strongest, and the use of more first-team regulars may have helped them defensively.

Given the English boast a strong record at the back under Tuchel, it would be sensible to predict England to keep a clean sheet against New Zealand on Saturday, a predictions that bet365 have priced at 4/11 (1.36).

New Zealand's offensive record assessed

Not only is England's defensive record is impressive, opponents New Zealand have struggled in the final third for some time, failing to score in 10 of their last 28 matches.

They have also failed to find the back of the net in three of their four most recent games, with Haiti, Finland and Ecuador the teams to keep clean sheets against them in that period.

In the two friendlies that New Zealand played against England in 1991, they were beaten twice without scoring, so the Three Lions should be confident of keeping them at bay for a third time.