Both Spain and Italy can count themselves unlucky to have been drawn together in UEFA World Cup qualification Group G. The presence of two big guns means that one will have to settle for the play-offs at best and that could mean some tense times ahead for these serial champions.
Group G is comprised of the two aforementioned nations, who boast nine major tournament successes between them and, frankly, four minnows. If things are tough for Spain and Italy, spare a thought for fans of Macedonia, Albania, Israel and Liechtenstein!
In another group they may have had an outside chance of nicking a play-off spot but realistically all they will be playing for here is pride. Read on as we take a look at the outright winner betting in Group G, as well as bringing you our predictions and betting tips for who will be heading to Russia in 2018.
Note that our live odds comparison brings you the best odds with the least fuss. No manually checking endless bookies, just all the best odds neatly presented in one place. Our odds comparison covers the main outright winner betting in Group G and all the other World Cup qualification groups, as well as the individual matches along the way.
As said, this really is a straight two-way fight between Italy and Spain. The bookies price that pair at best odds of 1/2 (Spain at Bet365) and 7/4 (Italy at BetVictor). Given third favourites in the outright group winner market are Albania at 66/1 with William Hill, we’re standing by our prediction that there are only really two teams in this one.
For the optimistic fans of the remaining nations, Israel are 100/1 with Coral, Macedonia are 250/1 with Bet365 and Liechtenstein are a massive 5,000/1 with Coral. Yes, we know Leicester won the Premier League at odds 5,000/1 but even if you are a highly optimistic punter from Liechtenstein our advice is to save your money!
Spain got their Group G World Cup campaign underway with a massive 8-0 win against the alpine principality and that could well be the way this group pans out for Rene Pauritsch’s Liechtenstein.
Italy also made a solid start, winning 3-1 in Israel, whilst Albania gave their hopes of a respectable campaign a decent chance by beating rivals Macedonia on home soil. In many ways, however, all of these results are meaningless.
Ultimately we predict that both Spain and Italy will record wins home and away against the lesser nations in Group G. That means their World Cup qualification hopes will rest on the two games against each other. The first of those takes place in Italy in October this year, with the return almost 12 months later.
In the recent Euro 2016 tournament in France, Italy got the better of Spain but they have lost their boss Antonio Conte since then. Spain undoubtedly have the better depth of talent and it’s easy to see why they head the outright winner betting for this group.
However, we’re going to plump for an upset here and predict that Italy will top the group. Our odds comparison shows that priced at best odds of 7/4, compared to just 1/2 for Spain, that looks the value bet here.
If you want to go for a major upset then perhaps there is some value in Israel to make the top two at 8/1 but we don’t see it and our main betting tip is the Italy/Spain forecast.