WALES welcome Spain for an international friendly on Thursday night. Tom Love (@TomLove_18) shares his betting thoughts.
Wales v Spain | Thursday 11th October 2018, 19:45 | Sky Sports
Wales welcome an in-form Spain side to the Principality Stadium on Thursday night; it promises to be a major test for Ryan Giggs’ side.
Since Giggs took the mantle as full-time manager of the Dragons, he has aimed to blood youth into the first-team set-up. Ethan Ampadu, Connor Roberts, Chris Mepham, David Brooks and Harry Wilson have all recently been drafted in and they sparkled in the 4-1 victory over Ireland in the previous international break.
Star man Gareth Bale was not involved in that game and he'll miss out again here after the Real Madrid star was ruled out through injury, a blow for Cymru.
Another relatively new manager is on show here too, in the away dressing room. Luis Enrique has started his international coaching career in style; the ex-Barcelona man was the ideal candidate to succeed Julien Lopetegui, who departed in strange circumstances a day before La Roja's World Cup opener.
Whoever the manager may be, there is a way of playing that is engrained into the ethos of the Spanish national team, one that is easy on the eye.
La Roja dismantled World Cup finalists Croatia 6-0 in their last Nations League fixture, before that they came to Wembley and brushed aside England. They’ll want to build on them performances and put on another show in the Welsh capital.
Gunning for goals
I’m expecting an entertaining affair here and I was surprised to see Over 2.5 Goals chalked up as big as 23/25 with Marathon. Given the attacking quality on show, I wouldn’t have been surprised to see the Asian Goal line at 2.75, so to see a flat 2.5 line is attractive.
Even with Bale out, Wales boast David Brooks and Aaron Ramsey in fine form, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see the home side notch. Spain have conceded against teams of a similar level in Russia and Morocco, and they also conceded three against Portugal at the World Cup – with their attacking style of play it can leave gaps to be exploited.
It’s hard to see Luis Enrique’s troops not bagging either; the guests have an attacking arsenal that could be argued as one of the best on the planet. Some of the main men aren’t in the squad but the likes of Rodrigo, Iago Aspas and an in-form Paco Alcacer are all involved and they’ll want to stake their claim to be the regular number nine for La Roja.
Brooks to bag
The aforementioned Brooks has two in his last two for Bournemouth, he’s dazzling for the Cherries and regularly posting strong shot statistics this season.
Unibet go 21/2 on him to score anytime here and that looks a massive price should he start.
Best Bets
Wales v Spain – Over 2.5 Goals (23/25 Marathon)
Wales v Spain – David Brooks to score at anytime (21/2 (Unibet)
