As England's footballers put the finishing touches to their preparations for tonight's crucial World Cup qualifier against Germany, fans are stocking up their fridges ahead of the big game.

Supermarkets across the country have recorded huge rises in the sales of pizzas and lager. But German brands such as Becks have been kicked into touch.

One supermarket firm even launched Project Hurst - a top secret plan usually reserved for England reaching the latter stages of a major championship - to cope with demand.

A spokesman for Tesco said about 900,000 extra gallons of beer and two million frozen pizzas had been sent to the shelves during this week.

Masses of chicken tikka masalas and kormas were also in place for the expected surge in demand as shoppers stock up for the game.

Fans are also preparing for a heavy night after the final whistle with sales of hangover cures, such as Alka Seltzer, also rising.

Sales of German lager are down 45 per cent in Asda stores, while other brands are expected to go up by a third.

Sales of Becks are down by about a third at Safeway, while five times as much Boddington's bitter has been bought in the past week.

Bookmakers are anticipating a record number of bets. William Hill last night offered odds of 11-5 on an England win, with Germany the 11-10 favourites.

Meanwhile, police in Munich said they expected 1,000 violent German fans to travel to the city for the game, but were confident they could handle any trouble.

In England, police stopped scores of suspected troublemakers from boarding flights to Germany and other destinations within striking distance of Munich.

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