There will be no better yardstick for England to assess where they stand in world football than when they take on the mighty Spain at Wembley on Saturday evening, with the kick-off at 5.15.

Vicente Del Bosque’s men comfortably top the world rankings as both world and European champions and are the 5/2 favourites for more glory in Poland and Ukraine next summer, which is no surprise having romped through their qualifying group with a 100% record.

Of course, the groups are not necessarily the hardest for the seeds to make it through as winners but England still managed to look unconvincing at times in Group G, despite ultimately finishing six points clear.

Fabio Capello’s men could not beat runners-up Montenegro home or away, while Switzerland also took a point from their Wembley venture after letting a two-goal lead slip.

Wales were perhaps unlucky to get nothing from their trip to England and Capello has intimated in the past that his players feel the pressure more so at home, which does not augur well for the visit of the best side in the world.

There will undoubtedly be plenty who will see the fact that Spain are priced up in the match betting at 5/6 as a good thing, with England a huge 10/3 to make home ‘advantage’ count and the draw is on offer at 5/2.

There will not be too many who would argue with the odds, given the fact that the Spanish side put out Wembley is going to be based largely around the galaxy of stars at Barcelona, regarded as the best side in the world now, and arguably ever in the history of the game.

Real Madrid are not too shabby either while David Silva, who is currently tearing up the Premier League with Manchester City, is merely a fringe player for his national side, finding it hard to break through into the starting team on a regular basis.

By contrast, England will be without a number of their more experienced players as Wayne Rooney has been left out, while the likes of Rio Ferdinand and Steven Gerrard have been ruled out through form and fitness respectively – and captain John Terry will only be on the bench.

Now that may work in Capello’s favour as the players on show will be looking to prove their worth ahead of the Euro 2012 finals next year and will be keen to make an impression, while they will not be weighed down by previous failures – such as the disastrous World Cup campaign last summer.

England have enjoyed some degree of success with new players breaking into the side but experience counts for a lot, particularly against such a strong side as Spain, and it would be a brave man to be confident in supporting the home side, even at the price.

There have been suggestions from the Spanish players that they will not be expecting an easy ride in London, but Del Bosque’s men should ultimately prove too strong.

However, the Three Lions may at least be able to keep it close on Saturday with none of Spain’s last three victories on the bounce being by more than two goals (Under 2.5 goals 8/11, Over 2.5 goals Evens).

David Villa and Fernando Llorente scored the goals in a 2-0 win in February 2009, but both successes prior to that were by a solitary strike, including Spain’s last visit to England in 2007 – although that game was played at Old Trafford.

Villa is the current 5/1 favourite in the FIrst/Last Goalscorer betting, while he is 11/8 in the Anytime Scorer market, alongside Chelsea’s Fernando Torres, but it may pay to take a chance at bigger prices with Silva, who bagged twice in the recent win over Scotland including the first goal, available at 8/1 to open the scoring.

Darren Bent, who has scored four in his last five internationals, is expected to lead what will be a very inexperienced attack and is priced at 8/1, alongside Daniel Sturridge, to get England up and running with the first goal and 3/1 to break his Wembley duck and score at all during the 90 minutes.

However, recent history suggests England will find it hard and Spain are available at 2/1 to win to nil, while punters can get 9/2 on a 1-0 scoreline for Del Bosque’s men and 13/2 on 2-0.

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