The Best Bets: How to make money in Group B’s final matches

Group B will conclude on Monday night and Spain and Portugal are expected to go through as the top two teams. Both have identical records after two matches and the winner of their group will be decided by which team records the best result on Monday.

Spain’s final group game is against Morocco, who have already been eliminated, while Portugal take on Iran, who have an outside chance of gate-crashing the top two places in Group B. Neither Spain nor Portugal have hit top stride in Russia, but no upsets are expected.

While Portugal are heavily dependent on Cristiano Ronaldo, who has scored Portugal’s last five goals at the World Cup, new Spain manager Fernando Hierro is struggling to find the right balance.

Diego Costa has divided opinion for the Spanish national team but the Atletico Madrid striker has made a fine start to the 2018 World Cup. Costa has scored the opening goal for Spain in their first two matches, netting three goals in total.

Team news and odds in our match preview

Marathon Bet are offering odds of 4.75 for Costa to open the scoring against Iran, which should be considered ahead of Monday’s match.

Portugal, meanwhile, have started matches quickly at the 2018 World Cup. The Euro 2016 winners have taken the lead in both of their group games in the fourth minute, with Ronaldo scoring on both occasions.

Fernando Santos’ side have generally scored most of their goals in the first half of matches of late. In fact, they have scored two goals within the first 45 minutes in three of their last five outings.

Paddy Power are offering juicy odds of 5.50 for Portugal to score over 1.5 goals in the first half against Iran!