Spain will look to end the month's UEFA Nations League fixtures on a high note when they welcome Czech Republic to Malaga for Sunday's League A Group 2 encounter.

La Roja scraped a 1-0 win over Switzerland during their midweek battle, while the visitors' most recent Iberian trip saw them suffer a 2-0 loss to Portugal.

Match preview

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Third time was the charm for Spain in the Nations League, as Luis Enrique's side bounced back from one-pointers against the Czechs and Portugal to quell a hapless Switzerland side on Thursday evening.

Reverting to arguably their strongest XI amid the unforgiving fixture schedule, La Roja struck through Pablo Sarabia in the 13th minute, and that was enough to get them over the line against the section's basement side and force Portugal to look over their shoulder.

With three games gone, the 2020-21 Nations League runners-up occupy second spot in the League A Group 2 rankings and are within touching distance of Portugal, who are the next visitors to Geneva, so all may come down to their heavyweight showdown on matchday six three months from now.

Enrique has now overseen a seven-game unbeaten streak in all tournaments since Spain went down to France in last year's showpiece event, and Spain have also found the back of the net in each of their last 17 games since being held by Sweden at Euro 2020 - not half bad given the lack of celebrated strikers of old.

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A resolute start to life with the big boys counted for nought during the Czech Republic's showdown with Portugal, as the Selecao comfortably dispatched their opponents by two goals to nil at the Estadio Jose Alvalade.

Bernardo Silva set up Joao Cancelo and Goncalo Guedes in the opening 45 minutes to kill off any hopes of a positive Czech Republic result early doors, but Jaroslav Silhavy's side can still be satisfied with their month's work during their inaugural League A campaign.

Staying in League A would be a minor consolation for the Czech Republic following their World Cup Qualifying playoff heartache, and Silhavy's side currently occupy third spot in the rankings and cannot be usurped by Switzerland no matter what transpires here.

The world's 33rd-ranked nation are still searching for their first away clean sheet in the Nations League but ought to take the positives from their first meeting with Spain earlier this month, which ended with La Roja rescuing a point right at the death through Inigo Martinez in a 2-2 draw.

However, that four-goal thriller stretched the visitors' winless run against Spain to six matches in all tournaments, and La Roja boast a perfect record of three wins from three versus the Czech Republic on familiar territory.

Team News

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While he was able to watch from the sidelines on Thursday night, Ansu Fati's fitness concerns are still bedevilling him, and it is unclear if the Barcelona starlet will be ready for any minutes this weekend.

Striker Raul de Tomas has also left the camp due to an infection, which could therefore see Ferran Torres operate as a makeshift number nine if Enrique continues his policy of rotation - dropping Alvaro Morata to the bench in the process as Marco Asensio comes back in.

The hosting manager leapt to the defence of Unai Simon and Diego Llorente following shaky moments in the win over Switzerland, although Eric Garcia can expect to be drafted in for the latter either way.

The Czech Republic have also seen one player leave the camp in the form of Jakub Jankto, who suffered a knock in the first meeting with Spain and has been replaced by Stanislav Tecl.

Jaroslav Zeleny was fit enough to take his place on the bench against Portugal and is now in contention to return on the left-hand side, while Tomas Vaclik ought to return in goal for Jindrich Stanek.

Jan Kuchta and Ondrej Lingr's spots are also at risk following half-time withdrawals on Thursday night, while Alex Kral could be drafted in if Tomas Soucek or Michal Sadilek's legs are in need of a break.

Spain possible starting lineup:
Sanchez; Carvajal, Garcia, Martinez, Alonso; Koke, Rodri, Soler; Asensio, Torres, Olmo

Czech Republic possible starting lineup:
Vaclik; Mateju, Brabec, Zima; Coufal, Kral, Soucek, Zeleny; Hlozek, Kuchta, Pesek

We say: Spain 1-0 Czech Republic

Even if Enrique does opt to put out a second-string XI for the final matchday of this month, La Roja's options in reserve are certainly formidable, and Silhavy has generally been loath to change his setup over the course of June.

Such a tactic may not reap its rewards as his players battle fatigue, and given Spain's hot streak in front of goal, we are backing Enrique's side to dig deep and post a second consecutive victory.

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

Written by
Ben Knapton

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