THE excellent Daniel McCulloch (@DMcCulloch1984) runs the rule over England’s Nations League fixture with Spain on Monday night.
Spain v England | Monday 15th October 2018, 19:45 | Sky Sports
England face the daunting task of facing Spain in Seville on Monday evening and it’s pretty hard to make a case for Gareth Southgate’s side returning home with an addition to their solitary point in the Nations League.
Looking back over the last 30 years, England’s record against the major footballing nations is pretty poor and while Southgate has managed to improve the mood of a nation, England still remain a level below sides like Spain.
England have lost five matches in 90 minutes under Southgate, all to sides that you would expect them to lose to – Germany, France, Spain and twice against Belgium.
Four of those losses were by a single goal and it’s that avenue I like the look of this evening. At 5/2 with Bet365, I think it’s an excellent price.
If you look England’s losses in competitive fixtures this century, they are overwhelmingly closely-fought matches, that the Three Lions come out on the wrong end of. For example, between Euro 2000 and Euro 2016, they lost eight matches in major tournaments, with seven of them being by a single goal.
Spain’s six goal thrashing of Croatia last month concerns me a little, but I don’t see this England side crumbling and it’s worth noting that Spain only won 2-1 at Wembley and showed relatively little interest in going for the third goal once they took the lead.
I will be backing the 1-0 and 2-1 scorelines on the exchange come kick-off, but for now, I will simply recommend Spain by a single goal margin.
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Spain v England – Spain to win by exactly one goal (5/2 Bet365)
