Preview: Spain vs England - prediction, team news, lineups

Engaging in a straight shootout for first place, Spain and England conclude their UEFA Nations League group-stage campaigns on Sunday, clashing at the Metropolitano Stadium in their League A Group 3 finale.

Both sides have already secured their ticket to the quarter-finals, and the world champions - favoured by the best UK betting sites - simply need to avoid defeat to consign the Three Lions to second place.

Match preview

Annihilating Croatia 7-0 in a so-called 'behind closed doors' fixture in October did not precede a similar whitewash for England on Thursday evening, but Thomas Tuchel's underwhelming charges did what was required of them to end an eight-year exile from the Nations League knockout rounds.

Morgan Rogers's scrappy strike and Harry Kane's penalty - either side of a Petar Sucic response - saw the Three Lions scrape a 2-1 win at Wembley, where Ballon d'Or winner Kane was honoured as England's new record appearance maker, having taken part in his 126th senior international.

One point would have sufficed for a top-two finish on Thursday evening, but England's triumph kept their hopes of finishing first alive if they can prevail in Madrid, and victory by any scoreline will suffice for Tuchel's side.

If the visitors win by two goals or more, they will usurp Spain courtesy of their superior head-to-head goals scored total. If they succeed by just the one goal, their overall goal difference will take them through in first place; the Three Lions boast a +12 GD compared to Spain's +9.

While Sucic's inconsequential strike at Wembley ended England's three-game run without conceding, the Three Lions have now netted multiple goals in six straight games in all tournaments; a longer such streak than their hosts boast.

Indeed, Spain have scored at least twice in each of their last five matches, although their most recent fixture bagging fewer than two goals was none other than the World Cup final, since when perfection has been perpetual.

At the time of writing, Luis de la Fuente's men are the only League A team with five wins from five on the board, after strikes either side of half time from Alex Baena and Marc Pubill secured a 2-0 triumph over the Czech Republic.

Spain's success at the Fortuna Arena came in the absence of De la Fuente's famed Euro 2024 front three - Lamine Yamal, Mikel Oyarzabal and Nico Williams all sat out the fixture - but the Czechs were only a goal down until the sixth minute of second-half injury time, by which point they had been a man down for over 20 minutes courtesy of Ladislav Krejci's dismissal.

Nevertheless, La Roja are now guaranteed to make the quarter-finals as group winners with a victory or draw on Sunday, and their unbeaten run across all tournaments now stands at an extraordinary 44 games since going down to Colombia in a March 2024 friendly.

In that time, Spain have bested England in the Euros final and Nations League - triumphing 3-2 at Wembley several weeks ago - but the Three Lions' last success against La Roja coincidentally came via the same scoreline on Spanish soil in 2018, when Raheem Sterling (2) and Marcus Rashford did the damage.

Spain Nations League form:

Spain form (all competitions):

England Nations League form:

England form (all competitions):

Team News

England should be blessed with two Arsenal-based boosts for Sunday's decider, as Myles Lewis-Skelly returns from a yellow-card ban, while Ezri Konsa should also be back in contention after missing the Croatia win on Thursday.

Konsa and Djed Spence have been restricted to individual training since linking up with the national team, but Tuchel is hopeful that the pair will both return to full practice on Saturday and make themselves available in Madrid.

The former will therefore be a candidate to replace Jarell Quansah, whose mistake gifted Croatia their equaliser at Wembley, but Tuchel should otherwise stick with the same winning formula.

Spain's squad will also be strengthened for Sunday, as De la Fuente has confirmed that he expects Yamal and Oyarzabal to return to the squad for the visit of England.

Williams, meanwhile, was absent from the Czech victory with a virus - in addition to defensive stalwart Aymeric Laporte - and both remain touch and go for the weekend.

Expect Ferran Torres and Yeremy Pino to make way for the returning Oyarzabal and Yamal, and it remains to be seen if out-of-favour Arsenal man Martin Zubimendi is good to go again after completing the full 90 on Thursday.

Spain possible starting lineup:

Simon; Porro, Cubarsi, Huijsen, Cucurella; Ruiz, Pedri; Yamal, Lopez, Baena; Oyarzabal

England possible starting lineup:

Pickford; Alexander-Arnold, Konsa, Burn, Hall; Anderson, Rice; Rogers, Bellingham, Gordon; Kane

We say: Spain 3-1 England

Neither England nor Spain showed what they are truly capable of on matchday five, but the Three Lions' display in particular showed the gap that remains between them and the world's best.

Boosted by the returns of Yamal and Oyarzabal and unbeaten in almost 32 months, the hosts have our vote to complete a perfect group-stage campaign.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.