England v Spain Football Tips

Sometimes there’s no need to go sniffing around for obscure bets when there’s great value right in front of you. With the British bookmakers always taking patriotic bets on the England team, the odds rarely do justice to the reality of the situation. For Spain to be as long as 10/11 (Boylesports) to win at Wembley on Saturday looks very generous.

A quick recap of how good Del Bosque’s side is: the World Cup holders and European Champions have just finished their latest qualification campaign with eight wins from eight matches. The squad that heads to London is a strong one. The majority of the personnel is comprised of Barcelona and Real Madrid superstars, with the Premier League’s leading lights thrown in for good measure. David Silva isn’t regarded as a definite starter for his nation, yet he’s 13/8 (VictorChandler) favourite to win PFA Player of the Year at Man City.

England appear to be operating on a much lower level. Making the gulf in class look even more apparent, Capello has elected to rest Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand, while Steven Gerrard, Jack Wilshere and Ashley Young are all missing through injury. The Three Lions have loss their last three meetings with Spain without even scoring a goal. The 2-0 defeat in Madrid in 2009 was a particularly humbling experience.

Spain should be odds-on even against England’s best side. With a weakened line-up to face, it’s bizarre to see the best team in the world still remarkably close to evens money.