Seeking to strengthen their position at the top of World Cup qualifying Group E, Spain will welcome Bulgaria to the Estadio Jose Zorrilla on Tuesday night.
Luis de la Fuente’s hosts maintained their flawless start to the campaign with a 2-0 win over Georgia on a Saturday night, in a game that brought up two of my three selections.
That latest victory means Spain have reached the halfway stage of the campaign sitting three points clear of Turkey at the top of the section.
The reigning European champions will now be expected to put another three points on the board when they go up against Bulgaria this midweek.
The Lions are languishing at the bottom of the group after losing each of their opening three matches of the campaign.
What's more, confidence could be at an all-time low in the Bulgarian camp following a 6-1 trouncing at home to Turkey last time out.
How the bookies view it: Plain sailing for Spain
In what looks like a massive international mismatch on paper, it’s no surprise to see Spain as short-priced 1/66 favourites on Tuesday night.
Bulgaria are as big as 50/1 on Boylesports to emerge from the Estadio Jose Zorrilla victorious on Tuesday night while the draw is also deemed unlikely at 25/1 with the same firm.
Head to head: Spain seeking more of the same
Spain ran out comfortable 3-0 winners in last month’s reverse fixture in Sofia. That means Spain have triumphed in five of the overall six meetings between the pair, with the other encounter ending all square.
Players to watch: Mikel to make his mark?
Mikel Oyarzabal made the net bulge for Spain against Georgia on Saturday night but he is too short to side with here at a general 8/13. Instead, consider backing the Spain striker to score alongside BTTS No at even-money (1/1) on Bet365.
Goalkeeper Dimitar Mitov is one of the few names that punters may recognise from the current Bulgaria squad. It would be fair to say that the Aberdeen stopper should be kept busy again on Tuesday night.
Predicted line-ups
As was the case against Georgia last time out, Spain will once again be unable to call upon the services of Dani Carvajal, Dean Huijsen, Fermin Lopez, Gavi, Lamine Yamal, Nico Williams and Rodri.
After watching his team get demolished by Turkey on Saturday, Bulgaria boss Dimitrov will almost certainly make some changes to his starting XI on Tuesday night.
Spain: Simon; Porro, Le Normand, Cubarsi, Cucurella; Pedri, Merino, Zubimendi; Olmo, Oyarzabal, F Torres
Bulgaria: Vutsov; Minkov, Dmitrov, Bozhinov, Nedyalkov; Kraev, Tsenov; Petkov, Milanov, Kirilov; Nikolov
Anything else catch the eye?
Given how heavy an injury list Spain are carrying at the moment, another solid rather than spectacular win could be on the cards for the hosts on Tuesday night.
That was the case against Georgia on Saturday, not to mention Spain put in a professional performance when winning 3-0 in Bulgaria on matchday two a little over one month ago.
With that in mind, siding with a Spanish success alongside under 4.5 goals looks worthy of interest at 10/11 on Boylesports.
Georgia failed to earn a single corner against Spain on Saturday night, so the 10/3 (Bet365) about under one Bulgaria flag kick here could be worth a speculative punt.
GambleAware