Italy and Croatia sit at the top of Group H after winning all three starting fixtures and everything suggests we will see a great game of football when the two in-form sides square off at Stadio Giuseppe Meazza.

The Azzurri definitely needed a change following the disappointing World Cup exit, and the club chiefs did really well to persuade former Juventus coach Antonio Conte to take over from Cesare Prandelli.

The talented manager quickly helped the players restore the lost confidence and the team have been pretty impressive under his command.

While ending a barren run in high-profile friendlies by defeating Netherlands 2-0, the Azzurri recorded straight wins in Euro 2016 qualifiers against Norway, Azerbaijan and Malta.

And even if the manner of those triumphs was not that great, Conte’s result-oriented football is clearly producing results, so no wonder Italy have been made 2.25 (5/4) favourites to see off Croatia.

Mario Balotelli has been recalled despite struggling for form at Liverpool, while Southampton star Graziano Pelle keeps his place in the side.

Leonardo Bonucci misses out through suspension, while Andrea Pirlo, Andrea Barzagli, Marco Verratti, Emanuele Giaccherini and Angelo Ogbonna are out injured.

Probable starting line-up (3-5-2): Buffon – Moretti, Ranocchia, Chiellini – Darmian, De Rossi, Marchisio, Candreva, De Sciglio – Zaza, Immobile.

Despite playing some good football at the tournament finals, Croatia crashed out in group stage at the 2014 World Cup, but the team have quickly recovered from the disappointment.

Vatreni didn’t have such a difficult fixture list at the start of the new qualifying campaign, although comfortable home wins over Malta and Azerbaijan came either way of a hard-fought victory in Bulgaria.

As a result, Croatia seem to be clear favourites to finish in top 2 together with Italy, but they will want to take advantage of the Azzurri’s problems and get something from Stadio Giuseppe Meazza.

With that in mind, it may be important to note that Vatreni can be backed at 1.70 (7/10) to get at least one point from the match.

Star striker Mario Mandzukic has missed training with cold, but he is widely expected to lead the line on Sunday regardless.

Ivan Strinic and Gordon Schildenfeld are out injured, while Marcelo Brozovic should be preferred to Inter’s Mateo Kovacic.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Subasic – Srna, Corluka, Lovren, Pranjic – Modric, Brozovic – Perisic, Rakitic, Olic – Mandzukic.