Southgate evens for permanent role

Interim England manager Gareth Southgate remains evens with Sky Bet for the full-time job after a 0-0 draw with Slovenia.

England interim manager Gareth Southgate
England interim manager Gareth Southgate

Southgate was put in charge on a short-term basis following Sam Allardyce's unexposed departure and his reign began with a routine 2-0 home win over Malta on Saturday, but Tuesday night brought about a disappointing stalemate.

Goalkeeper Joe Hart was the undoubted man of the match for the Three Lions, who dropped Wayne Rooney to the bench after a lacklustre display at Wembley, as they couldn't break through a resolute Slovenia defence.

Sky Bet left Southgate as their even-money favourite, with Ralf Rangnick second favourite at 4/1 and Arsene Wenger next in the betting at 9/2.

Despite failing to maintain their winning sequence in qualifiers, England remain long odds-on at 1/25 to qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia and 1/8 to top the section.

Elsewhere on the night, Northern Ireland put up a bold display in Germany to go down 2-0 to the reigning World Cup champions but England's Group F rivals Scotland suffered a 3-0 defeat against Slovakia.

Scotland's defeat comes on the back of a 1-1 home draw with Lithuania at the weekend and the pressure was piled on Scotland boss Gordon Strachan.

Scotland are now out to 7/1 to qualify for Russia, while Northern Ireland are 4/1 to get out of Group C after their defeat left them third in the standings behind Germany and Azerbaijan, who picked up a point from a goalless draw in the Czech Republic.

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