ALEX CROOK PREVIEW: England v Spain

It is the World Cup final that could have been, as England host Spain at Wembley in a mouthwatering Nations League opener on Saturday night, writes ALEX CROOK.

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The wounds are still raw from the summer’s gut-wrenching semi-final defeat to Argentina in Atlanta.

It will be interesting to see what type of reception Thomas Tuchel gets from the home crowd, particularly if the result does not go the Three Lions’ way.

Spain are not prolific scorers but have the ability to dominate any team by monopolising the ball.

Tuchel’s cause is not helped by the withdrawals of Declan Rice, Cole Palmer, Kobbie Mainoo, Marcus Rashford and Tino Livramento.

With no Livramento, the recalled Trent Alexander-Arnold is in line for his first England start since the friendly defeat to Senegal in June 2025 and is sure to have a point to prove after being left out of the World Cup squad.

Elsewhere, you would expect Tuchel to name his strongest available 11 as this is the hardest of the four games his team will face during the extended first international break of the season.

That is likely to mean a front four of Bukayo Saka, Jude Bellingham, Anthony Gordon and captain Harry Kane, which a quartet that can hurt a mean Spain defence who conceded just one goal en route to being crowned world champions.

England have conceded in each of their last five games, so I fancy both teams to score here.

Bellingham scored seven times in the summer, only behind Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi so represents the value ahead of Harry Kane to be England’s first goalscorer at 4/1 with starsports.bet.

This will be the first meeting since England lost out in the final of Euro 2024 and the visitors have a pretty formidable record in the Nations League, having reached the last three finals.

Excluding penalties, they are also unbeaten in their last 38 matches, which shows just how big a challenge this is for Tuchel and his charges.

However, a draw away from home would be far from disastrous for Luis de la Fuente’s men, who are the favourites to win this competition for the second time.

The draw is 23/10 with starsports.bet.

You can combine the draw with Jude Bellingham scoring at any time and over 6.5 corners as a build-a-bet which pays a tasty 15/1 with starsports.bet.

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📊 BUILD-A-BET: Draw, Jude Bellingham to score, over 6.5 corners 0.5pts at 15/1 with starsports.bet
🎰 ALEX ACCA: Stockport, Plymouth, Grimsby, Swindon 15/2

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