San Marino v England background

England will guarantee their place at UEFA EURO 2016 with a victory against Group E back-markers San Marino in their first autumn qualifier.

Previous meetings
• England beat San Marino 5-0 at Wembley in the sides' first Group E meeting; their record in five games against San Marino is W5 D0 L0 (W2 D0 L0 away). England scored 31 goals in those games (an average of over six per match), conceding just once.

• That goal was a very famous one indeed, Davide Gualtieri striking 8.3 seconds into a FIFA World Cup qualifier, staged in Bologna on 17 November 1993; it remains the fastest goal in the history of the competition, in qualifying or a final tournament. It was the striker's only international goal in nine appearances for San Marino.

• It was the final game in the section, with England's 7-1 win not enough to take them to the finals in the United States.

Disciplinary
• Manuel Battistini, Alex Gasperoni, Mirko Palazzi, Danilo Rinaldi, Andy Selva and Davide Simoncini are all a yellow card away from a suspension.

• England forward Raheem Sterling is a booking away from a one-game ban.

Form guide
• San Marino have yet to win a competitive match; their only friendly victory to date was a 1-0 triumph against Liechtenstein on 28 April 2004, Andy Selva scoring the only goal.

• San Marino are the only side yet to score after six rounds of qualifiers; they have not scored in seven competitive games (D1 L6) since Alex Della Valle equalised in a 5-1 home defeat by Poland in September 2013. However, the 0-0 draw against Estonia in their last home qualifier last November was the first time they have avoided defeat in a EURO qualifier at the 60th attempt.

• England and Slovakia are the only sides who won their opening six games in UEFA EURO 2016 qualifying.

• England are unbeaten in 25 qualifying games (W18 D7) since a 1-0 World Cup qualifying loss to Ukraine on 10 October 2009. There have been 14 games (W11 D3) since their last EURO qualifying defeat – 3-2 at home to Croatia on 21 November 2007.

Trivia and links
• Only Poland's Robert Lewandowski (7) has scored more than Danny Welbeck's six in qualifying to date.

• England's Wayne Rooney has had more shots on (18) and off target (15) than any other player in qualifying after six games.

• The nations' five meetings in UEFA age-group tournaments have been similarly one sided; England have won all five fixtures by an aggregate score of 32-0.

• San Marino can take some encouragement from their national futsal team, who recorded the best Sammarinese result against an England side in FIFA Futsal World Cup qualifying, losing 5-3 in a preliminary round game staged in Latvia.