After making a successful return to winning ways, Group B leaders Spain will look to make it back-to-back victories in the World Cup qualifiers when they travel to Fadil Vokrii Stadium. The visitors claimed a comfortable victory in the reverse fixture and with Kosovo still struggling, a similar result is predicted here.
Kosovo are still in search of their first home win in the qualifiers and were held 1-1 by Greece in their previous fixture. They needed a 92nd minute equaliser from Vedat Muriqi to get a point after falling behind in the first half.
Bernard Challandes' men have struggled in the qualifiers, claiming just one win in their last four matches. They are well off the pace in the group, sitting seven points behind leaders Spain.
Kosovo are poor defensively and often struggle against the bigger teams in Europe. They have already been beaten 3-0 at home by Sweden in these qualifiers while also suffering a 3-1 defeat against Spain in the reverse fixture.
Following the disappointing defeat to Sweden, Spain made a solid return thanks to a 4-0 victory over Georgia. Jose Gaya opened the scoring early in the first half with Carlos Soler, Ferran Torres and Pablo Sarabia were also on target.
The result means Spain have returned to the top of the group and now sit two points above Sweden, who have two games in hand. Having lost to the Swedes, Luis Enrique’s men will be keen to remain above their rivals.
Spain are usually comfortable against the lower ranked sides as evidenced by the 4-0 victory against Georgia. They claimed a 5-0 victory over Slovakia at the Euros while a 6-0 triumph against Lithuania is also among their recent results.
How the bookies view it
The bookies have Spain as overwhelming favourites and SBK are offering 2/9 for an away win. Despite playing at home, Kosovo are considered outsiders at 19/1 with BetVictor while a draw is set at odds of 6/1 with SBK.
Head to head
Spain claimed a 3-1 victory over Kosovo back in March in the only previous meeting between both teams.
Players to watch
Manchester City forward Ferran Torres has been in good form lately and is priced at 33/20 with Unibet to score anytime. Alvaro Morata often leads the line for the Spaniards and could be worth a punt in the same market at 11/10 with Skybet.
Kosovo have some quality in attack with Milot Rashica and Vedat Muriqi all impressing in recent times. Paddy Power has Muriqi at 11/10 to score anytime while Vbet is offering 34/5 on Rashica in the same market.
Anything else catch the eye?
Spain have scored in both halves in two of their last three qualifying matches and a repeat is priced at 10/11 Unibet. The Spaniards have also won both halves in two of their last three outings in the qualifiers and can be backed for a similar outcome at 14/10 with SBK.
Spain can also be tipped in the -2 handicap market at 2/1 with betfair.
This World Cup match between Kosovo and Spain will be played on Sep 8, 2021 and kick off at 19:45. Check below for our tipsters best Kosovo vs Spain prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
