ITALY v SWEDEN
Monday 13th November 2017 – Kickoff: 1945hrs
Football – Europe – World Cup Qualifiers Betting Tips
Italy find themselves trailing by a 1-0 margin ahead of this all-important second leg of their World Cup qualifier play-off against Sweden following defeat in the first leg, and the azzurri now have it all to do in Rome on Monday night.
The encouraging aspect for Italy though,is, despite their recent loss, the hosts possess a very good record on home soil, particularly in World Cup qualifiers where they’re unbeaten in their last 54 matches, while in the group stages, only Spain conceded fewer goals at home than the Italians.
In addition, Italy have won four of the last five encounters at home against Sweden, with the most recent being a 1-0 win in the European Championship in June last year. Italy are built for endurance and they just seem to find a way to win matches when it counts.
Onto Sweden, and they are just 90 minutes away from a place in next year’s World Cup finals in Russia if they avoid defeat against Italy in this crucial second leg. This is by no means over as the Swedes are expected to come under intense pressure as the home side look to overhaul this one goal deficit.
Sweden’s performances and results away from home in World Cup qualifiers isn’t particularly strong either as they’ve lost five of their last nine on their travels with defeats at Austria, Portugal, France, Bulgaria and Netherlands, all of whom Italy are at least equal to, if not better than, in quality.
Sweden have also kept just two clean sheets away from home in recent times with shut-outs at Luxembourg and Belarus, who, with all due respect, are hardly powerhouses on the world stage.
It seems unthinkable for a World Cup to be without Italy involved, and I think the hosts will win this tie by hook or by crook.
Pick: Italy to win @ 1.51 Marathonbet
