Sweden vs Switzerland Prediction: Blagult’s wait for a win goes on

Switzerland's 100% record in Group B of Uefa World Cup qualifying will be put to the test on Friday (19:45 BST, Amazon Prime Video), when they take on Sweden at Strawberry Arena in Solna.

Below are my Sweden vs Switzerland predictions, supported by all the latest team news and match odds.

Team News

Emil Krafth (Newcastle United), Samuel Dahl (Benfica) and Sebastian Nanasi (RC Strasbourg) haven't been named in Jon Dahl Tomasson's Sweden squad, with the latter injured.

Alexander Isak (Liverpool) remained rooted to the bench for last month's 2-2 draw with Slovenia, and was only a 72nd-minute substitute in the 2-0 defeat to Kosovo three days later, but after featuring in his club side's last six games, providing an assist in the Reds' 2-1 defeat to Chelsea last Saturday, he should receive more game time for his country this week.

The 26-year-old could be paired in attack with Viktor Gyokeres (Arsenal), who has also endured a slow start to life at one of the Premier League's elite clubs.

World Cup Odds

Two uncapped goalkeepers, Pascal Loretz (Luzern) and Marvin Keller (Young Boys), have been called up by Switzerland head coach Murat Yakin, with 31-year-old shot-stopper Yvon Mvogo (Paris FC) dropped.

Ardon Jashari (AC Milan) and Zeki Amdouni (Burnley) are injured, while Noah Okafor (Leeds United), who has scored in two of his last three Premier League appearances, has been overlooked.

National team centurions Ricardo Rodriguez (AC Milan) and Granit Xhaka (Sunderland) are both included in Switzerland's squad, as are Breel Embolo (Stade Rennais) and Dan Ndoye (Nottingham Forest).

Today's Football Fixtures

Sweden vs Switzerland Odds

Sweden triumphed in their first-ever meeting with Switzerland, winning 1-0 in the last 16 of the 2018 Fifa World Cup in Russia. Blagult are 7/5, or a 41.7% chance, to win the second head-to-head, with Nati priced at 2/1 (33.3%) and the draw available at 23/10.

Gyokeres (5/4) and Isak (7/5) head the anytime goalscorer market, with Embolo (15/8) first up for the visitors.

Double Chance & Both Teams To Score - Draw or Switzerland & Yes @ 7/5

Sweden won their Uefa Nations League Group (C1) last year, picking up 16 points from six games against Azerbaijan, Estonia and Slovakia, and they won three of their first four games this year, albeit all were friendlies.

However, the first of those was a 1-0 defeat to international minnows Luxembourg, whose victory on March 22 is their only triumph in their last 14 matches.

Sweden's first two competitive contests of the calendar year, against Slovenia and Kosovo last month, saw Blagult pick up just a single point, and they now face a Swiss side that scored seven goals without reply in September, beating Kosovo 4-0 and Slovenia 3-0.

Nati have won their last five games, including three friendlies earlier in the year, and are unbeaten since a 3-2 defeat to European champions Spain last November, when La Roja had to rely upon a Bryan Zaragoza strike three minutes into second-half injury time to claim maximum points against Yakin's men.

Switzerland also appear to have turned a corner defensively, as after going 10 games without a clean sheet, they are now targeting a fourth consecutive shutout, having kept out the USA in a 4-0 friendly win in June before last month's victories against Kosovo and Slovenia.

I'm confident Switzerland can at least avoid defeat on Friday, and I'm backing the Euro 2024 quarter-finalists to make it 10 matches on the spin with a goal.

However, I do think Sweden, bolstered by the return to fitness of Isak, can halt their opponents' run of clean sheets. The Swedes have scored in their last five home games, racking up 20 goals across victories over Estonia (3-0), Slovakia (2-1), Azerbaijan (6-0), Northern Ireland (5-1) and Algeria (4-3).

Granted, Friday's visitors are arguably a better side than all of the aforementioned five, but prior to their win in the USA, Nati had failed to shut out their opponent in their last eight matches outside of their homeland.

Sweden need to pick up a win sooner or later if they harbour dreams of finishing in the top two of Group B, so we should see the hosts going for goals here, and with Isak, Gyokeres and Anthony Elanga in their forward line, they stand a solid chance of finding the net at least once.

Bet Builder - Over 0.5 Total Goals & Silvan Widmer (SWI) Total Shots - 2+ @ 4/1

Sweden haven't drawn 0-0 since June 14, 2021 (vs Spain), while Switzerland's last goalless draw came against Denmark in March last year, so we can be pretty confident about at least one goal being scored in Friday's fixture.

So, on to the second leg of this Bet Builder, which requires Swiss right-back Silvan Widmer to take at least two shots.

The 32-year-old, who captains Bundesliga side Mainz 05, has scored five times in 52 caps for his country, including once in the last three calendar years. His most recent strike came last month, when he struck Nati's third in the 39th minute of their 4-0 victory over Kosovo in Basel.

Widmer had earlier seen two headed efforts miss the target in the 14th and 16th minute.

The former Udinese and Basel defender also recorded multiple efforts in a game for Mainz earlier this season, shooting twice in quick succession in a 1-0 defeat to FC Koln on August 24. He tried his luck twice in the 82nd minute after coming on as a 65th-minute substitute.

It might be a big ask for him to register a couple of shots away to Sweden, but at 4/1, there's great value in backing him to do so.

Sweden have shown themselves to be vulnerable at the back, conceding seven goals and 37 shots across their last three matches. Algeria left-back Rayan Ait-Nouri shot four times in his country's 4-3 friendly defeat to the Swedes on June 10, so two looks achievable for Widmer, who forced a save from Slovenia goalkeeper Jan Oblak in his last international appearance.

Offers

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