Spain look worthy favourites to crush Croatia

Nations League
Kick-offs from 3pm Thursday

England are hoping for a favour from Croatia to keep their Nations League hopes alive but they may be left disappointed by the outcome in Zagreb where Spain look worthy favourites to secure the three points and safe passage to next summer's finals (7.45pm).

There is plenty motivation for both teams with Croatia knowing that victories at home to Spain and away to England would be enough to catapult them from third to first in League A Group 4.

But the Croatians may still be struggling to get over the intense disappointment which followed their 4-2 loss to France in the World Cup final.

In terms of personnel they are weaker without goalkeeper Danijel Subasic and centre-forward Mario Mandzukic, who called time on their international careers after the World Cup.

And their confidence took a huge knock when they were hammered 6-0 by Spain in their Nations League opener in Elche.

Croatia were a little better when scraping a 0-0 draw at home to England in a behind-closed-doors match in Rijeka but they looked nothing like the spirited and talented bunch who came from behind to deservedly defeat the Three Lions in Moscow this summer.

Spain were perhaps guilty of over-confidence when losing 3-2 to England last month, but they should have learned from the experience and are likely to keep things tighter in Zagreb.

Luis Enrique has shaken things up by leaving out Marcos Alonso and Paco Alcacer and bringing back Jordi Alba but it still looks a strong squad and they will benefit from the return of attacking midfielder Isco, who is fully recovered after an appendix operation.

Spain have the luxury of a large pool of high-quality players to choose from and Enrique should be backed to come up with a winning formula.

Bosnia have a six-point lead over Austria in League B Group 3 but that may be cut in half by a defeat in Vienna (7.45pm).

To retain a chance of winning the section Austria need to either win the match 1-0 or triumph by more than one goal.

However, they have won eight of their last nine home games (the exception being a 3-0 loss to Brazil) and look value to overcome the Bosnians, who are without injured goalkeeper Asmir Begovic.

Recommendations
Spain
1pt 23-20 bet365, Betway
Austria
1pt Evs general

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