UEFA 2014 World Cup qualifying: England, Russia, Bosnia and Spain are all Brazil-bound

For Dortmund they’ll need to replicate their road success from last season’s group stages if they want to keep working towards returning to another final. Head coach Jürgen Klopp will be in the stands after having his suspension increased for his sending off in Dortmund’s loss against Napoli. Not having the eccentric manager on the touchline will be a blow for BVB. Marco Reus and Marcel Schmelzer will should be available after returning from injury over the weekend.

Arsenal injuries and suspensions

The hosts were, as per usual, dominant right from the outset, and would’ve been ahead inside the opening five minutes if Georgian defender Akaki Khubutia hadn’t got down to make an impressive goalline clearance on Jesús Navas’ shot toward the far post. Álvaro Negredo put a free header over the bar a few minutes later, before Pedro’s shot was smothered at the second attempt by Georgia keeper Giorgi Loria.

Goals: Negredo 26’, Mata 61’.

England are World Cup-bound after beating Poland, 2-0, on Tuesday to clinch Group H. With their place secured, they can begin preparation for next summer’s tournament, where they are not expected to get a seed and will have a steep uphill climb if they want to really challenge for a semifinal place, let alone the tournament title.

• Full coverage of UEFA World Cup qualifying

There was nothing at stake when Germany arrived in Sweden for the last game in their group, both teams having secured first and playoff places, respectively, and although neither team were at their most determined as a result, it seemed to affect defenders more than attackers, leading to a strange and high-scoring game in Stockholm.

Germany looked to gain an equalizer, but the crisp passing and sharp movement that usually typifies their play appeared to be absent, with the team adopting an unusual strategy of getting down the flanks and firing in crosses at speed rather than attempting to play along the floor.

The Czech Republic were the aggressor in the first hal,f but couldn’t break through with the opening goal despite three excellent chances.

In the 14th minute, Libor Kozák stayed onside and got in behind the Bulgarian high line, running on to a well-placed long ball down the right wing. Kozák raced in on goal unopposed, but goalkeeper Vladislav Stojanov makde himself big as the Czech midfielder skied his shot well over the crossbar.

The Dragons will make their first appearance on world football’s biggest stage when they travel to Brazil next summer as one of the representatives from UEFA. It’s a massive moment for the nation and the team, who took advantage of one of the weaker qualifying groups, finishing just ahead of Greece on goal differential.

They are led by leading scorer Edin Džeko, who has 10 goals in UEFA qualifying.

Luxembourg midfielder Aurelien Joachim decided that he couldn’t be bothered continuing in the charade at around the half-hour mark, up until which the hosts had found it rather difficult to penetrate the massed red ranks surrounding Jonathan Joubert’s goal. Joachim expressed his displeasure through the medium of Andre Almeida’s shinpad, artfully (and forcefully) driving his studs into the leg of the Portugal defender. It was a tackle that deserved red, and got red.

If the visitors were going to have trouble holding out 11-on-11, they didn’t have a hope of keeping it even down a man. And before long, Portugal had their opener, with Monaco man Joao Moutinho sliding an inch-perfect through ball to Silvestre Varela, who skipped past Tom Laterza and slotted in past a stranded Joubert. The second goal didn’t take long to arrive, and it was just as pretty, with Moutinho producing a sublime backheel into the path of Nani, who duly scooped the ball into the top corner to make it 2-0 and officially kill off the match.

Armenia remain in the hunt for the World Cup playoffs. However, they must beat Group B winners Italy in Naples and hope that other results go their way. Given their inconsistent record of four wins and five losses during qualifying, that’s easier said than done. Especially when they’re facing an Italian side yet to be beaten in this qualifying campaign and who eased to a 3-1 victory in the reverse fixture last October.

Despite their chequered run of results, Vardan Minasyan has seen his side record some impressive victories on the road. Both Denmark (4-0) and Czech Republic (2-1) can attest to that. Armenia edged past Bulgaria 2-1 on Friday night to give themselves an outside chance of qualifying.

Just one point is required for the reigning World Cup champions to book their flight to Brazil and defend their title next summer. Vicente Del Bosque’s team currently sit three points ahead of France, thanks to a record of five wins and two draws from their seven qualifiers. March’s 1-0 victory over Les Bleus in Paris was arguably the turning point in Group I.

Still, La Roja can’t afford any slip ups. France aren’t expected to meet much resistance from Finland, with the Scandinavians out of the running in third place. Georgia are guaranteed to finish fourth due to Belarus having played all of their games. The Eastern Europeans have picked up just one win and two draws during their qualifying run.

Group B is delicately poised. As many as four teams still have a chance of finishing second. Bulgaria and Denmark come into their final matches a point better off than the Czechs and Armenia.

Only eight of the nine runners-up will advance to the playoffs.The second placed team with the lowest number of points scored will miss out. Sounds pretty straightforward in theory. However, this is where things get a bit complicated. With Group I having one less team, UEFA came up with a rankings system which discounts results that teams get against the sixth placed sides to try and make things fairer. Confused? Yes. As things stand, this group currently seems to be the unlucky one due to how results have played out. Because Armenia are the only team in the group to have dropped points against bottom placed Malta, they stand the best chance of netting a playoff place should they pull off a famous victory and finish second. For the other teams in the group, the outlook doesn’t look as good.

For that to happen France need to win and hope Spain slip up and lose to Georgia, with a four goal swing in their favour. With the reigning world and European champions having not lost throughout their entire qualification campaign, the chance of that happening is minimal to say the least.

Projected lineups

In fact, if the game turns out anywhere near as exciting as when these sides last met back in October 2012, it will probably be the highlight of the international week. On that day, Sweden battled back from four goals down in the second half to draw 4-4, leaving Germany stunned in Berlin.

However, that didn’t stop Joachim Löw’s team comfortably finishing top of their group, having won every single one of their group games so far. They guaranteed qualification with a routine 3-0 win over the Republic of Ireland last Friday, while Sweden extended their winning run to five matches by defeating Austria. They are now locked into the second place playoff spot, and can’t be overtaken.

However, while Russia are firm favourites heading into Tuesday’s game in Baku, it won’t necessarily be an easy game. Azerbaijan only lost 1-0 in the reverse fixture a year ago, and are unbeaten in their last five matches -- though their 2-0 win over Northern Ireland on Friday was their first competitive victory since 2009.

Projected lineups