THE first round of the World Cup qualifiers start over the weekend and both England and Scotland will fancy their chances in a weak-looking Group F.

The Scots have the easier opening fixture, a visit to Malta on Sunday night (Sky Sports 2, 7.45pm kick-off). Scotland are 4/9 (Betway), a draw 15/4 (Betvictor) and Malta 8/1.

The Tartan Army will be cross if their footballers cannot see off the Maltese but the three points should be secured, perhaps by a narrower margin than anticipated. Prediction: Malta 0 Scotland 1.

Sam Allardyce’s first game in charge of the English national team is a testing trip to Trnava, where Slovakia lie in wait (ITV1, Sunday 5pm). Slovakia had a torrid end to Euro 2016 where they were thumped 3-0 by Germany but it was still an infinitely better ending than that suffered by Roy Hodgson’s flops.

The Slovaks are 31/10 (Betvictor) to carry on where Iceland left off, a draw is 23/10 (Skybet) and England 21/20 (Betway).

As regards winning Group F, England are 2/5 (Coral), Slovakia 11/2, Scotland 9/1, Slovenia 16/1 (Ladbrokes), Lithuania 250/1 (Betway) and Malta 1,000/1 (Ladbrokes/Betway).

Northern Ireland will be competing in Group C and may well be battling it out with Norway and Sunday’s opponents Czech Republic for second spot behind group favourites Germany. The bookies do not fancy the Irish will get anything out of their trip to Prague (Sky Sports 1, 7.45pm); Czech Republic are 8/11, a draw 13/5 (Bet365) and Norn Iron 9/2 (Betfred).

Monday sees Wales and Republic of Ireland opening their campaigns. Wales have what appears to be a gentle introduction in facing Moldova (Sky Sports 1, 7.45pm). The Welsh are no bigger than 2/7 (Betfred) to claim the spoils, a draw is 9/2 (Betvictor) while the Moldovans have been understandably dismissed at 16/1. If you believe that Wales can roll over Moldova, they are 17/20 on a -1 handicap (Coral), 5/2 off -2 (Paddy Power) and 6/1 -3 (Hills, Coral).

A point would be a satisfactory outcome for Ireland as they travel to Serbia (Sky Sports 2, 7.45pm) and that result is 12/5 with Paddy Power. An Irish victory is 10/3 (Boylesports) while a Serbian success is 11/10 (Betfred).

BBC Alba give viewers the chance to see how the Scottish youngsters are progressing as they are televising the under-21s' home game with Macedonia at Tynecastle (tomorrow, Friday, 7.30pm). Scotland are 5/4 (Betvictor), a draw 11/5 (Betvictor) and Macedonia 12/5 (Boylesports).