Youthful Spain to push on past the Swiss
Sides at opposite ends of the Group 4 League A table meet this Saturday. Spain host Switzerland with a win putting them in a very strong position having taken four points from their opening two. The Swiss made it to the inaugural Nations League finals, despite ending up in fourth place it was still an excellent achievement, it remains to be seen whether that was the ceiling for this nation, their recent draw with Germany suggests otherwise. The Spanish were lucky to get their draw against the 2014 World Cup winners, with a Jose Gaya 96th minute equaliser disguising a poor performance, they should however have too much for Switzerland on home soil.
Ones to watch
With many managers utilising the Nations League to trial out different systems that they may come to use in major tournaments, it is not clear the personnel that Luis Enrique is likely to go with. Though that does not take away from the exciting young trio he has at his disposal in wide areas in the form of Ansu Fati, Ferran Torres and Mikel Oyarzabal.
The former is arguably the most exciting and has hit the ground running this season at Barcelona. Given increased responsibilities in the absence of Luis Suarez, who has joined Atletico Madrid, and filling the gap left behind by injury prone forward Ousmane Dembele. Still just less than a month from his 18th birthday Fati is being touted as Lionel Messi’s predecessor, the next cap out of La Masia to take the bulk of the mantle with the Argentinian star set to leave in the summer. He managed eight goals and one assist in 2019/20 beginning the campaign as a 16-year-old, he has already achieved half those goal involvements in just three appearances this time around. Watch this space.
Ferran Torres has had a tricky start at Manchester City, with a lot of competition for places so this international break is a good chance for him to remind Pep Guardiola and the fans why they bought him and kick on for his country. He got his first Premier League start in a disappointing 1-1 draw at Elland Road at the weekend, the 20-year-old assisted Raheem Sterling’s goal let off two shots himself and completed a dribble but only completed passes at a rate of 73%. Such that is low for City’s possession style, only Benjamin Mendy was less reliable to retain the ball, so it was not a surprise to see him hauled off after 64 minutes, room for improvement.
The impetus is on Spain to go and get the win and they have been in good goalscoring form scoring 17 goals in their last four outings. Switzerland will try to stifle them, but it is a very difficult task.
Post bet chat Marcus's Tips:
Despite 13 shots to four it was only a 1-0 win for the Spanish.