Sweden vs Azerbaijan prediction: EUROPE: UEFA Nations League – League C betting tips on match 2024-11-18 19:45.
[p]As expected, Sweden finished top of UEFA Nations League (UNL) Group C1 and confirmed promotion to League B after defeating Slovakia 2-1 on Saturday. They’re now unbeaten across their last five internationals, all of them in this competition (W4, D1), with that run starting against Azerbaijan in September (3-1) to extend their winning H2H record (W4, L1).[/p]
[p]As Sweden won both previous meetings at home by at least three goals without conceding, confidence will be high even if manager Jon Dahl Tomasson decides to change his line-up and give other squad members a runout. That could mean debuts for Malmö FF defender Nils Zätterström or Darmstadt forward Isac Lidberg – the only uncapped members of the Sweden set-up.[/p]
[p]Azerbaijan have struggled during this UNL cycle (D1, L4) and automatic relegation to League D seems likely as another defeat would see them end as one of the two worst teams in League C. As Fernando Santos’ men will definitely finish bottom of the group after drawing 0-0 with Estonia on Saturday, the best they can hope for is a relegation play-off against a League D side in March.[/p]
[p]The National Team have only won twice this calendar year (D2, L5), but the fact that one of those victories was on foreign soil, against Kazakhstan in neutral Hungary (3-2), might offer some encouragement. However, their record in UNL away games is underwhelming (W3, D3, L5), with all five of those losses by at least a two-goal margin.[/p]
[p]Key battle: Sweden’s Alexander Isak scored twice after half-time when these nations met in Baku in September (3-1) and also netted the winner against Slovakia at the weekend in his fifth consecutive goalscoring appearance for club and country. Aiming to help keep him quiet could be Elvin Cafarquliyev, who has contributed to clean sheets in his last four outings for Azerbaijan and Qarabağ.[/p]
[p]Hot stat: There has been an average of two goals per game after the 75th minute across the last three H2Hs (Sweden: W2, L1).[/p]
[p][i]Written by John Pennington[/i][/p]