Spain v England: Spain to win to nil – 6/4
As if watching Spain mercilessly dispatch Wales 4-1 in Cardiff wasn’t scary enough, England will take to the pitch in Seville minus three key figures in Gary Southgate’s already fledgling outfit.
John Stones and Jordan Henderson are out through suspension and they are likely to be joined on the missing list by Kyle Walker, who has been hit with a slight groin issue. Those absentees should see Joe Gomez, Harry Winks and the excellent Kieran Trippier called into Southgate’s starting XI at the Estadio Benito Villamarin.
To make matters even tougher for The Three Lions they face a Spain unit who boast a truly wonderful home record, despite their nomadic existence within their own country. Amazingly, it’s been over 15 years and 38 matches since they lost a competitive game at home – with Greece being the last to manage the feat in June 2003.
The home side have also kept England scoreless on their last four visits to Spain, winning the last two meetings 2-0 (which is available at 6/1 if you fancy it). We’re going to be a little more conservative with our punt though by taking Luis Enrique’s men to win to nil at 6/4.
Bosnia and Herzegovina v Northern Ireland: Bosnia to win to nil – 11/8
Given the small population base he has to work with and the constant pilfering of some of his talent by the Republic of Ireland, it must be said that Michael O’Neill has done a wonderful job to have Northern Ireland ranked 28th in the FIFA world rankings.
Only for an utter scandal of a penalty decision we may have seen O’Neill’s men at the World Cup in the summer and they were the width of a post away from taking a very credible point in Vienna last time out.
However, the trip to Bosnia is never easy – even if they are playing out of their spiritual home of Zencia this time. Only Belgium have managed to score against them in their last seven home games, while the North come into the tie having lost three of their previous four.
While we are full of admiration for Northern Ireland’s recent achievements on the international stage, we don’t fancy their chances here – especially after losing 2-1 to Bosnia in Belfast last month.
Get on the 11/8 punt on Bosnia to win to nil here as well.
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