Gareth Southgate will look to drive home his case for being the new permanent England manager, while Julen Lopetegui will hope to grab a morale-boosting win in his own fresh reign as Spain boss when the two European heavyweights clash in an international friendly at Wembley on Tuesday.
Southgate's four-game temporary reign will end with the Spain friendly, but the former U21 boss is widely expected to take over as the new England manager for the foreseeable future.
And keeping that in mind, the current manager has asked his England side to play without fear, by going for the high press, rather than having two banks of four and trying to hit Spain on the counter.
"Our pressing has to be spot on because if you don't get that right against Spain they can carve you apart," Southgate said. "Our work with and without the ball has to be immaculate and that's going to be a great challenge for us.
"We can't be the same as Spain because their players have been brought up in a different way. But maybe we have more power, more pace, more strength. At the moment we have several top teams [in the Premier League] playing in a certain way – a high-pressing, possession-based game. I don't remember seeing many good teams over the years that weren't very good at pressing, whether that was Holland going back to the 1970s or Milan going back to their successful teams.
"That is a fundament core of what we need to do to be successful."
While England will be without Wayne Rooney, who was a late withdrawal because of a minor injury and Harry Kane, Spain will be missing several of their stars. Andres Iniesta, Sergio Ramos, Gerard Pique, Jordi Alba and Diego Costa are all absentees for this friendly, with Manchester City playmaker David Silva also a doubt after training alone due to a toe problem.
Whatever team Spain do put out, though, expect them to dominate possession. England's target will be to trump Spain on the chances count, even if they don't end up seeing much of the ball.
"This is a friendly but as soon as the referee blows the start of the game, that's history," Arsenal left-back and another one of Spain's any Premier League players Nacho Monreal said. "We'll go out there to try to win."
Where to Watch Live
England vs Spain is set to begin at 8pm GMT (9pm CET, 3pm ET, 1.30am IST). Live Streaming and TV information is below.
India: TV: Sony Six and Sony Six HD. Live Streaming: Sonyliv.
UK: TV: ITV1. Live Streaming: ITV Hub. Audio: BBC Radio 5 Live.
Spain: TV: Telecinco.
USA: TV: Fox Sports 1. Live Streaming: FoxSoccer2Go.
Australia, Middle East, France: TV: Bein Sports. Live Streaming: Bein Sports Connect.
