Portugal v Sweden Betting Preview – International Friendly 28th March
Sweden are pushing on for a place at the 2018 World Cup and they took a good win over Belarus on the weekend. Thanks to the floundering Dutch, who lost against Bulgaria in the group, that keeps the Swedes going along well in their qualification campaign. As they deal with life after Zlatan Ibrahimovic, how will they cope against the reigning European champions? Portugal are having a battle with Switzerland to win automatic qualification for the World Cup 2018, but they come into this one with form, having beaten Hungary comfortably over the weekend.
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Portugal v Sweden Betting Tips
This is probably going to be a tough game, and the fact that it is just an international friendly makes it that much harder to call. Both are going well in their respective World Cup 2018 qualifying campaigns, both sitting in second place in their groups after the weekend. Portugal have been going well and they have scored 19 goals in their five qualification matches so far and won an important game against Hungary on the weekend 3-0. Since suffering a qualification loss against Switzerland in the group, Portugal have put together four wins on the bounce and three of those wins were at home. Portugal, who are the reigning European champions, have won their last two games against Sweden, those being World Cup 2014 qualifying matches and both of those victories there were by a one-goal margin and Portugal’s last three wins over the Swedes have been by that narrowest of margins. Portugal to win by a one-goal margin at Bet365 will return a good price of 12/5 to get stuck into. Portugal have gone W4 D5 in their last nine meetings with Sweden now, so carry the head to head form. Cristiano Ronaldo is 4/6 outright favourite in the Bet365 anytime goalscorer market for this one.
Sweden are hit and miss on their day, but actually, they look to have adjusted pretty well after their European Championship campaign. They no longer have Zlatan Ibrahimovic who has retired from the international scene, but they are well in the mix to qualify for Russia 2018 and they are scoring freely at the moment. Sweden are W4 L2 in their last six games, but in that sequence of matches they have fired off 17 goals. They carded a 4-0 win over Belarus on the weekend in World Cup qualifying and that followed a big 6-0 friendly win over Slovenia. So they are full of goals at the moment and it has been a big team/squad effort too with no-one standing out as a goalscorer. Marcus Berg is trading at a price of 15/4 in the anytime goalscorer market, while Emil Forsberg, who is top scorer for them in World Cup 2018 qualifying, is a 4/1 punt from midfield. Sweden have won five of their last seven games played now, both defeats they suffered in that sequence were 2-1 losses. A Portugal 2-1 correct score at Bet365 in this fixture is trading at a price of 15/2 which could have appeal.
Portugal v Sweden Betting Odds
Portugal 8/13, Draw 13/5, Sweden 9/2
Portugal v Sweden Predictions
Draw: There may be enough to warrant backing a draw in this one. Sweden are firing off goals at the moment but Portugal are a tough side to get the better of at the back. So with this just being a friendly, it could just settle down to a tame game of parity. Settle on the outright draw in the midweek action.
