England’s hopes of hosting the 2018 World Cup will be boosted by the publication tomorrow of Fifa‘s technical reports, which will categorise the bid as a low legal risk with a high potential financial return, but is also expected to highlight four contractual areas where government guarantees are not currently met.

Karren Brady, the West Ham United vice-chair who is also head of the 2018 advisory board, said today the publication of the reports should help England’s bid refocus attention on its strong fundamentals and its ability to generate a healthy return for Fifa, football and the wider economy.

“Our hope is that the executive committee’s vote is based purely around sporting credentials. If that is the case, we know we have a very strong chance. If it is based solely on that, we should win on 2 December,” said Brady, speaking in support of new research by the bid sponsor npower showing that 73% of small businesses related to football believe it would boost their sales.

As they enter the final fortnight of a race that is expected to go to the wire, despite the impact of a backlash against England in the wake of recent media allegations of Fifa corruption, the bid team will take heart from criticism of their two major rivals – the Russia and Spain/Portugal bids – on transport and security respectively in the technical reports.

It is understood that the Russian report raises questions about its transport plan. Russia has promised free overland travel to help fans cover the vast distances between stadiums but some of the promised routes do not yet exist. Spain/Portugal is believed to be criticised for lacking a proper safety and security plan, while the Holland/Belgium bid is understood to be marked down for failing to provide several government guarantees.

The report is also understood to revive the question marks over the concept of joint bids, a factor that was thought to have been put to bed by the Fifa president Sepp Blatter.

But according to sources who have read the executive summaries of the reports, due to be published tomorrow, its checklist-style format will make it difficult for England to put clear water between them and their rivals.

England’s technical report also raises four areas where there are reservations or qualifications over guarantees given by the government. One relates to the UK’s listed events legislation, which Fifa is opposed to because it limits the market for its broadcast rights.

“In terms of TV rights the current listed events regulations in the UK which adversely affects the free exploitation of media rights needs to be suspended in accordance with the undertakings given in government guarantee number six,” the summary is expected to say.

But the government would be prepared to reassure Fifa that the legislation is due to be reviewed in 2013 in any case. There is also a contractual issue over the 60,000 hotel rooms that each bid must promise to contract at a guaranteed rate. “Fifa could be exposed to excessive pricing and booking conditions and the constituent groups may not choose to use the submitted proposition,” says the report. There is also believed to be an issue around the provision of training camps, with Fifa saying that “additional sites may need to be considered.”

However, bid insiders regard that as a technicality that can easily be smoothed over and will instead hope to highlight what they believe are more fundamental flaws in the plans for their rivals.

While it is unclear just how significant the technical reports will be in the eyes of the 22 executive committee members who will vote, England’s bid team hope they will help reiterate the commercial value and low risk of England as a host country. “If England is awarded the rights Fifa’s legal risk appears to be low,” the report is expected to say. England’s 2018 bid team hope the technical reports will also enable them to move the agenda on from the corruption allegations in the British media that led to the suspension of two executive committee members but also provoked a backlash among others over the methods employed.

Despite a recent letter to all the executive committee members designed to distance the bid from the media allegations, Brady said today that they should not be ashamed of England’s free press.

“That’s the reason most of us live here – freedom of the press, freedom of opinion and freedom of speech. That’s what makes us unique,” she told the Guardian. “Could it be damaging to the bid? It could be. But if the newspapers feel there is a story that should be investigated, we need to support that as well.”

Brady also called for a more transparent process that rewarded the best bid: “You only ever get rumour and innuendo when there isn’t a clear and transparent process. When people understand the logic around it, there are less allegations and less innuendo. Anything that makes it more transparent has got to be a good thing.”