GARETH BALE’S reacted to his bumper pay rise with three goals in two games – and that’s good news for Wales.
The Real Madrid star briefly became the world’s highest-paid player before Cristiano Ronaldo was handed a £500k-plus weekly deal.
But when you play for Wales cash isn’t the concern – and Chris Coleman will need his talisman to be at his best for tonight’s test at home to Serbia.
Bale netted in Wales’ 1-1 draw at home to Georgia in October and is 29-20 to score again. To hit the opener he is 17-4 at McBookie.
Group D leaders Serbia will pose a bigger threat than the Georgians and I can see another score draw at 15-4 with betfair. The Serbs have netted in 11 of their last 12 and both to score is likely at evens with William Hill.
Wales are 6-4 with Hills to win with the Serbs 23-10 while a draw pays 29-10 at Paddy Power.
Elsewhere in the group Austria entertain Ireland and this could be another scoring draw. Austria’s last four matches have saw both score with a total of 15 goals and they were held 2-2 by Wales in Vienna.
Ireland have netted in their previous six including matches against Italy, France and Serbia. The score draw pays a best 41-10 at 188BET. For an Austrian scorer I’d take a look at Stoke striker Marko Arnautovic at 9-4 (Marathonbet).
The other Group D match should see Georgia edge out a Moldova side who have lost five in a row and conceded 10 goals to Wales, Ireland and Serbia. Georgia are 8-15 at Hills.
Big guns Spain and Italy should win with the minimum of fuss against Macedonia and Liechtenstein respectively. Spain mauled Macedonia 5-1 in their only previous home meeting and hit eight past Liechtenstein.
They are no bigger than 1-20 to win so consider Spain -2 at 4-7 (Coral).
Italy don’t tend to hammer sides but their opponents conceded eight to Spain, five in Denmark and four in Iceland so I’d expect the Italians to win to nil (3-5, Betway).
Croatia v Iceland could be the best game of the night. We know all about the Icemen’s Euro 2016 exploits and they’ve started their World Cup campaign with seven points in three games. The Croats also have seven and best bet should be both to score as Iceland have done so in their last 15. This pays 5-4 at Stan James.
Bets to Consider
Bale to score
Wales v Serbia both to score
Austria v Ireland score draw
Arnautovic to score
Spain -2
Croatia v Iceland both to score
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