With Maaloul's men likely to sit back in the absence of their star forward, Al Hain-Cole expects the Three Lions to limp to victory in Volgograd
England will be aiming to get their Wold Cup campaign off to a winning start when they take on Tunisia at the Volgograd Arena on Monday.
The Three Lions have struggled at recent competitions, winning just once in eight World Cup fixtures and crashing out at the group stages four years ago.
However, having run out 2-0 winners against this opposition back at France 98, they are 2/5 (1.40) favourites with bet365 to begin this tournament on a high with victory here.
Nabil Maaloul’s men have not won a match at this level since 1978, but can be backed at 17/2 (9.50) to cause an upset by claiming all three points in this one, or 19/5 (4.80) to earn a draw.
After offering a chance to numerous players in the warm-up matches, Gareth Southgate is expected to go with Ashley Young, Harry Maguire and Jordan Henderson ahead of Danny Rose, Gary Cahill and Eric Dier in the starting line-up respectively.
The Carthage Eagles must do without the services of star forward Youssef Msakni, who was ruled out of the competition after suffering a knee injury just prior to the tournament.
England’s main reason for disappointment at the last couple of World Cups has been a lack of cutting edge up front, having scored just four goals in six group matches against often stubborn opposition.
This could well be an issue again when they take on a Tunisian side that restricted Spain to just a single goal in their final warm-up friendly, and who are likely to sit back and defend as they miss their main creative spark in attack.
Having scored only eight goals in their last eight fixtures but conceded just twice themselves, odds of 15/8 (2.88) seem generous on England just about edging a tight match that features under 2.5 goals.
Odds correct at the time of writing. Please gamble responsibly.