The defending European champions suffered a shock 2-1 defeat at the hands of Slovakia last month, although they managed to get their campaign back on track with a comfortable victory over Luxembourg last time out.

Vicente del Bosque has had to fend off accusations in the build-up to Saturday's game suggesting that Cesc Fabregas withdrew from the squad despite being fit, claiming that he 'trusts' the Chelsea midfielder.

Following the poor defence of their World Cup crown this summer, many suggested that Spain were a fading light on the global stage - highlighted by their slide down to 10th place in the current FIFA rankings.

Del Bosque looked to rectify that by keeping things fresh, and that has continued into La Roja's latest game with Nolito, Ignacio Camacho and Bruno Soriano among those to have been called up.

Spain will be expected to brush aside minnows Belarus with ease in the capital this weekend, but they will have to do so without Premier League stars David Silva, Juan Mata and Diego Costa who were both omitted from the squad for differing reasons.

Sergei Kornilenko is likely to lead the line for the visitors, meanwhile, with manager Andrei Zygmantovich expected to go with a more defensive-looking 4-5-1 formation.

Belarus, who have lost both of their previous meetings with La Roja, have one point to their name in Group E, which came in their opening game away at Luxembourg.

Recent form

Spain: LWLWLW

Belarus: DWWDLL

Possible starting lineups

Spain: De Gea, Alba, Pique, Bartra, Carvajal, Busquets, Iniesta, Koke, Cazorla, Alcacer, Nolito

Belarus: Balanovich, Zhenov, Verkhovtsov, Shitov, Martynovich, Krivets, Kalachev, Filipenko, Dragun, Bordachev, Kornilenko

Sports Mole says: 3-0