Football Bet of the Day: Isak back to his flying best for Sweden?

Thursday sees us just one week out from the World Cup and teams are preparing for the tournament with friendlies. 

One of those is Sweden, who were well beaten by Scandinavian rivals Norway on Monday but return on Thursday for their send-off game against Greece at the Strawberry Arena (7pm local, 6pm BST). This one features our Football Bet of the Day.

Sweden vs Greece Odds

Graham Potter will be aware that his side are not the finished product heading to the World Cup. Even without Erling Haaland, Norway were 3-0 up in the first half on Monday, and Sweden looked a bit ropey in truth. 

Viktor Gyokeres hasn’t been involved yet for Sweden given his Champions League final exploits, and Alexander Isak also started on the bench so perhaps we can be a little more forgiving. With those two making up a powerful front two, things could quickly turnaround for Sweden under Potter. 

Remember they didn’t win a single game in their qualifying group but made it through thanks to the Nations League play-offs, with Gyokeres scoring a dramatic late winner vs Poland. This is Sweden’s final game before the World Cup opener against Tunisia on Monday, 15 June, so I’d expect Potter to name as strong an XI as possible.

Football Odds

That means Isak will almost certainly start, and he scored a simply sensational solo goal off the bench against Norway in that 3-1 defeat. He ran with the ball on the left, cut inside and fired the ball into the top corner, showing a glimpse of the quality we all know he has. 

It’s not been the season we all expected for Isak, with just three PL goals in 14 appearances and a broken fibula prevented him making a meaningful contribution to Liverpool’s season after his £125m move. However, he is now back fit and needs some more minutes for his country before he starts the first World Cup game in the United States. 

He needs 90 minutes under his belt and Greece should provide fairly tepid opponents. They’ve failed to score in their last three games against Hungary, Paraguay and Belarus and didn’t make the World Cup as they finished behind Scotland and Denmark in their qualifying group. 

Sweden should win this game and if they do, Isak will be the main attacking threat with Gyokeres potentially held back for the finals themselves. He needs minutes and confidence from his national team, and if he is at his flying best, the odds on him to score anytime are worth backing for our Football Bet of the Day.