Sweden vs Estonia prediction: EUROPE: Euro – Qualification betting tips on match 2023-11-18 17:00.
Sweden have had a Euro 2024 qualification (ECQ) campaign to forget, having lost the majority of their matches (W2, D1, L4). FIFA’s 23rd-ranked outfit hit rock bottom on Thursday after suffering a first-ever defeat to Azerbaijan (L 3-0), despite being ranked a mammoth 97 places above them and spending the majority of the second half facing ten men.
Perhaps that performance was due to having already failed to maintain their impressive run of reaching every European Championship since the turn of the millennium, meaning that Janne Andersson’s seven-year stint at the helm will be over after the qualifiers. Despite his side’s wretched form however, Andersson will be expecting to bow out on a positive note, considering Sweden have won 16 of their 19 games (D3) against upcoming opponents Estonia.
The visitors will attempt to ruin Andersson’s farewell party, which seems increasingly unlikely when accounting for the fact that they have just one point in Group F (D1, L6). That said, the Estonians’ last outing was a respectable 2-0 defeat against group-topping Austria on Thursday, although they did concede their 19th and 20th goals of this qualification cycle while remaining stuck on only two scored.
Those two goals came in their first two group matches, and firing blanks in the five games since has no doubt left their confidence flagging in attack. Manager Thomas Häberli will nonetheless attempt to convince his men that if 120th-ranked Azerbaijan can beat Sweden, then his 118th-ranked Blueshirts can too, an upset that would see Estonia win their first ECQ away trip since October 2011 (D4, L9) as they wait patiently to see if their UEFA Nations League exploits are enough to secure them a play-off spot.
Players to watch: Emil Forsberg might take it upon himself to get Sweden going, since he’s netted his country’s opening goal in each of his 18 goalscoring appearances. As for Häberli’s men, they’ll be looking to Henri Anier for goals, considering 16 of his 22 international strikes have come outside Estonia, including one against Sweden in January 2018.
Hot streak: Estonia have been losing by two or more goals at half-time in each of their last five ECQ matches.