How England, France and Portugal can progress in Euro qualifying preview

With seven matches kicking off in European Championship qualifying tonight, there are five sides capable of mathematically guaranteeing their place at next summer's finals.

Among those are England, who missed the chance of booking their spot on Friday with defeat in the Czech Republic but can still do so with victory in Bulgaria. That, however, would rely on Kosovo losing at home to Montenegro, so in all likelihood the Three Lions will have to wait another month to confirm qualification from Group A.

Elsewhere in Group B, there is a direct battle for top spot between Ukraine and Portugal, with the former currently four points clear having played one game extra. There is a scenario where both will qualify tonight if Portugal were to win and Serbia to lose in Lithuania.

A draw would be enough to guarantee a place for Ukraine, though in truth Andriy Shevchenko's side are all but home and dry given they thrashed Serbia 5-0 earlier in the group stages. Defeat to Portugal would mean the Serbs would need to overturn that defeat to come out on top in their head-to-head record, as well as beating both Lithuania and Luxembourg in the meantime.

The big match in Group H sees France and Turkey do battle in Paris, with both teams tied on 18 points but the visitors out in front having won the reverse fixture at home 2-0. As with the Ukraine-Portugal tie, both teams can progress if they were to draw or should Turkey win if Iceland lose to Andorra and Albania fail to beat Andorra owing to France's superior head-to-head record against the Nordic nation.

If France were to win and Iceland were to win - with both of those outcomes looking most likely - the meeting between Turkey and Iceland in the penultimate group game would give the latter the chance to leapfrog their hosts come November.