England's worst home run in 27 years

Another double duel awaits England at Wembley as they host Israel this afternoon and Russia next Wednesday.

England need to claim maximum points to stay in the hunt for a place in next year's European Championship finals.

Injuries have continued to play havoc with England's plans but still, there will be no excuses if they fail to take full points from these crucial Wembley international matches.

As four of their remaining five qualifiers are at home, England's qualification fate is in their own hands. Today, they will be keen to chalk up their first victory at the new Wembley after the latest home disappointments.

Since Steve McClaren took over from Sven-Goran Eriksson as England manager, the team have won only five times in 12 outings.

England's 0-0 draw against Israel in Tel Aviv last March was the team's fifth successive match that they failed to win.

Last month's 2-1 home setback against Germany showed that England do not have a reliable goalkeeper in Paul Robinson to guard their goal.

The Germans were the last team to beat England at the 'old temple' and made their bow in the new stadium with another victory.

England have not won in their last four outings in front of home crowds, as follows:

August 23: Friendly vs Germany (Wembley) 1-2.

June 1: Friendly vs Brazil (Wembley) 1-1.

February 7: Friendly vs Spain (Old Trafford) 0-1.

October 7: Euro Championship qualifier vs Macedonia (Old Trafford) 0-0.

England's last home victory was the 5-0 trouncing of Andorra in a qualification match at Old Trafford on September 2, 2006.

The last time England went through such a depressing stretch at home was way back in 1980-81 when they were managed by Ron Greenwood.

That negative sequence saw England fail to win at home in five internationals in which they netted only once.

Friendly vs Spain 1-2 (Hoddle)
WC qualifier vs Romania 0-0
Friendly vs Brazil 0-1
Friendly vs Wales 0-0
Friendly vs Scotland 0-1

Season-start qualifiers

In the last ten seasons, there were only two occasions when England lost their first match in a European Championship or World Cup qualifying round, as data hereunder well denotes:

1997-98: Home vs Moldova 4-0: Gascoigne, Scholes, Wright 2 (World Cup qualifier).

1998-99: Away vs Sweden 1-2: Shearer (European Championship qualifier)

1999-2000: Home vs Luxembourg 6-0: Shearer 3, McManaman 2, Owen (European Championship qualifier).

2000-01: Home vs Germany 0-1 (World Cup qualifier).

2001-02: Away vs Germany 5-1: Owen 3, Gerrard, Heskey (World Cup qualifier).

2002-03: Away vs Slovakia 2-1: Beckham, Owen (European Championship qualifier).

2003-04: Away vs Macedonia 2-1: Rooney, Beckham (European Championship qualifier).

2004-05: Away vs Austria 2-2: Lampard, Gerrard (World Cup qualifier).

2005-06: Away vs Wales 1-0: J. Cole (World Cup qualifier).

2006-07: Home vs Andorra 5-0: Crouch 2, Defoe 2, Gerrard (European Championship qualifier).