Sports Blog 15/11/2016: International Friendly Preview – England vs Spain, Tuesday 15th November 2016

No offence to Scotland, but Gareth Southgate faces his biggest test as interim manager this Tuesday when England take on Spain at 8pm on ITV.

With that sporadically impressive 3-0 victory over Scotland England stretched their unbeaten run in qualification, be it for the World Cup or the Euros, to 33 games – a run only topped by Italy, who haven’t lost a qualifier in a staggering 54 fixtures. And while time and again that has failed to materialise into anything resembling a strong showing in one of the competitions proper, the achievement shouldn’t be completely underplayed either.



That win on Friday also marked a slightly smaller unbeaten run for Gareth Southgate, whose record now sits at 2 wins and 1 draw since he took over from a scandalised Big Sam. Interestingly there is perhaps more pressure on Southgate this Tuesday than on the players themselves. Victory over Spain may well see the FA may Southgate’s position permanent; an embarrassing loss, on the other hand, could push the association to broaden their search, especially since the next batch of qualifiers aren’t until March next year.

In terms of the game itself, Daniel Sturridge will not only be looking to build on his goal against Scotland, but will want to give Jurgen Klopp a reason to reconsider freezing him out of the Liverpool starting 11; the forward heads into the friendly at a Super Mega PGM of 17-21. The absence of both Wayne Rooney and Harry Kane also frees up space for the likes of Marcus Rashford and Jamie Vardy, who both sit at Super Mega PGMs of 14-18.

As for Spain, like England they are currently unbeaten in this current set of qualifiers, neck and neck on 10 points with Group G rivals Italy. With Costa out injured Spain might be slightly less potent up front, though a strike force that includes Alvaro Morata, Artiz Aduriz (both at Super Mega PGMs of 18-22) and Nolito (at 13-17) will still inspire fear in England’s back four.

Frustratingly for Southgate this visit from Julen Lopetegui’s side might be a bit too earlier in his (interim) tenure, with Spreadex offering a Spain/England (h) Goal Supremacy spread of 0-0.2 alongside a Total Goals spread of 2.25-2.45.