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Mikel Oyarzabal is the perfect striker for this Spain side, offering Luis de la Fuente the ideal balance between his two wide players with how he can drop a bit deeper at times and link up with Spain’s talented midfield trio.

His movement causes real problems, but he’s still a threat in the final third himself as well as being an asset to the team. Oyarzabal has scored two goals at the World Cup so far, both coming against Saudi Arabia, from 11 shots overall (4.69 per 90). He’s seen four of these efforts find the target (1.71 per 90) and scored six goals across six starts in qualifying for Spain.

Oyarzabal averaged 2.42 shots on target per 90 during the qualifying campaign and has scored 27 goals across his 56 caps for Spain, which is a pretty solid international record. He also scored 15 goals for Real Sociedad during the 25/26 campaign from an average of 1.19 shots on target per 90. 

Sabitzer tends to play quite high up for his national side, which makes him a shot threat. 

This is reflected in his shot numbers so far; he’s taken five efforts across his three starts (1.67 per 90), with four of these efforts notably coming from outside the box. He’s on free kicks for Austria and managed a shot on target from this situation in Austria’s defeat to Argentina during the group stage. 

He scored three goals across eight starts for Austria during qualifying from 24 shots (3.08 per 90). He also impressed for Austria at the most recent European Championships, taking 12 shots across his four starts (3.00 per 90). 

Konrad Laimer is a really aggressive player, though he’s also quite versatile, and I could see him filling in quite a few different roles for Austria here over the course of the 90 minutes.

Laimer can play as a fullback, midfielder, or even in the final third with his diverse skillset, but one area of his game that tends to stay consistent is his foul count. He’s committed four fouls across his three starts at the World Cup so far (1.33 per 90), and averaged 2.27 fouls committed per 90 during qualifying.

His numbers in the Champions League from the most recent campaign are also promising. He committed 20 fouls across his 10 starts in the competition (2.11 per 90), mainly operating as a fullback.

I can see Laimer being tasked with dealing with Lamine Yamal at times in this game, who averaged 2.06 fouls won per 90 during the most recent campaign and usually requires the attention of at least two players to stop him. 

Austria’s games generally tend to be quite open and entertaining, with their energetic style of play that revolves around pressing high. They’ve seen 3+ goals in two of their three games at the World Cup so far, with their most recent game ending 3-3.

Austria saw 26 goals across their eight qualifying matches (3.25 per game), and I think they have enough quality to get on the scoresheet in this clash with Spain’s backline really yet to be properly tested, having faced off against Saudi Arabia, Cape Verde, and a lacklustre Uruguay side.

Spain have had to battle through some tight games so far, but they are capable of competing in a high-scoring environment too. Five of their six qualifying games saw 3+ goals, and with Yamal continuing to build to full fitness, you would expect Spain to continue to improve in the final third.

This is a real favourite of mine in matches where there is a clear favourite.

Spain are yet to concede at the World Cup, and while Unai Simon hasn’t been the busiest keeper so far, I expect him to be tested here more regularly than he has been in Spain’s games at the World Cup so far.

Unai Simon has been forced into making exactly one save in all three of his games at the World Cup and also maintained an average of 1.67 saves per 90 across his six starts during qualifying - keeping five clean sheets across these matches. 

Austria have forced a save from the opposition keeper in two of their three games so far, except for their 3-3 draw with Algeria last time out in which they were clinical and scored with all three efforts on target. 

Lamine Yamal has had to watch the likes of Mbappe, Haaland, and Messi light up this World Cup with a touch of frustration, as the winger still isn’t quite fully fit, but will be determined to make his mark at this World Cup with Spain looking to have a decent route through to the final stages.

Yamal has scored once from eight shots at the World Cup so far (5.14 per 90). This shot volume may look inflated, but he averaged 4.64 shots per 90 across his 26 starts for Barcelona in LaLiga during the 25/26 campaign and has generally focused more on being a threat in front of goal this term - which is reflected by his tally of 24 goals across all competitions, his best ever return. 

He had 11 shots across just two starts in qualifying for Spain (6.51 per 90), seeing four of these efforts find the target (2.37 per 90). He may not quite be at 100% fitness, but he’s clearly a player who can provide for Spain at this level, and I back him to find the target at least twice.

Pedri is such an impressive player and was fouled three times inside just 60 minutes in Spain’s narrow win over Uruguay last time out. It’s the first time he’s won fouls at the tournament, with both Cape Verde and Saudi Arabia being very passive against Spain, which is to be expected given the obvious gap in quality between the nations.

Austria will fancy themselves a bit more and engage with Spain a bit higher up the pitch. Pedri is a natural target for fouls due to how much influence he has on the game. He usually sits around 85-100 touches per 90 for club and country, so if you want to stop Spain, the first port of call is often to harass and nullify Pedri. 

He won 24 fouls across just nine starts during the 25/26 Champions League campaign (3.11 per 90) and can be targeted here by an aggressive Austria side, who are averaging just shy of 11.0 fouls per game and committed 13 fouls in their 2-0 defeat to Argentina, which is probably the most comparable fixture to this one from their group stage assignments. 

I’ve already touched on how aggressive Laimer can be, and I expect him to be in with a chance of picking up a caution.  Card betting has been frustrating at the World Cup so far, with more examples yesterday of referees being far too lenient with obvious yellow card challenges.

That being said, Laimer has a strong individual record when it comes to collecting cautions. He picked up a yellow card in Austria’s loss to Argentina, and received a red card in a friendly just before the tournament started. 

He picked up one yellow card across his eight starts in qualifying for Austria, with an average of 2.27 fouls committed per 90. Laimer also collected four yellow cards across his 10 starts in the Champions League during the 25/26 campaign, showing his tendency to pick up cautions in high-profile situations.

Marc Cucurella is usually fired up for these sort of games. He’s been a bit conservative so far, but having watched him regularly for Chelsea last season, these are the type of games where you see the fullback be very aggressive and almost ratty with his challenges.

Cucurella is very good in 1v1 duels; he’s excellent at locking down a direct opponent, but I’ve found he struggles a bit more when he doesn’t have this clear assignment. He won’t have a danger man to keep an eye on here with Austria being quite fluid in forward areas, so I could see situations where Cucurella is out of position and has to make tactical challenges.

He picked up eight yellow cards and one red card for Chelsea in the Premier League during the 25/26 campaign, showing a pretty decent consistency when it comes to collecting cards, and I think Austria’s main success here could come through attacking the wide areas. 

Alex Baena scored the only goal for Spain in their final group stage game against Uruguay, earning his side the three points to secure top spot in their group. Baena saw plenty of involvement in that match, as he also racked up four fouls and was booked. He looked eager to get involved and contribute for his side, so is likely to keep his starting spot on the right wing here. 

Since Euro 2024 ended, Baena has featured sporadically for the national side, but across 14 starts he is averaging 1.83 fouls per 90, which is impressively high for a side like Spain, who tend to dominate possession. Even at club level, Baena averaged 1.72 fouls per 90 on the wing for Atletico Madrid this season, picking up nine yellow cards from his 46 appearances across all competitions.