Football Bet of the Day: Slovakia to sweep aside Luxembourg on Monday

City Arena Trnava is home to Monday's Football Bet of the Day, with hosts Slovakia taking on Luxembourg in a Uefa World Cup qualifier (19:45 BST).

A defeat for Luxembourg would rule them out of a top-two finish in Group B, while a loss for Slovakia would be damaging to their own hopes of qualification to next year's finals in the USA, Canada and Mexico.

Slovakia began their qualification campaign with back-to-back victories against Germany and Luxembourg, beating the former 2-0 at home, and the latter 1-0 away.

However, a 2-0 defeat in Northern Ireland last Friday saw the Falcons drop down to third at the halfway stage, level on points with leaders Germany and second-place Northern Ireland, but behind their two Group A rivals on goal difference.

With a home game against Northern Ireland and a trip to Germany to come next month, Slovakia head coach Francesco Calzona will be targeting all three points on Monday.

Slovakia vs Luxembourg Odds

Luxembourg, meanwhile, are living up to their billing as the whipping boys of Group A, losing their first three games. They started their campaign with back-to-back home defeats to Northern Ireland (1-3) and Slovakia (0-1) before suffering a 4-0 loss in Germany last Friday.

The Red Lions have now lost five of their last six matches (D1), last tasting success in a 1-0 friendly victory over Sweden on March 22, while their last away win came in November 2023, against Liechtenstein (0-1).

Since beating Liechtenstein in Vaduz, Luxembourg have lost six times and drawn twice on their travels, scoring just once - an 89th-minute consolation effort from the penalty spot in their 3-1 friendly defeat to Switzerland on March 25.

Football Odds

Slovakia only edged September's reverse fixture with Luxembourg, netting the only goal of the game in the 90th minute through substitute Tomas Rigo (Stoke City), but they should be confident of a more comfortable win on home soil this week.

The Falcons are unbeaten at home since losing 2-0 in Bratislava to Austria in March last year, and their last competitive home defeat was to Portugal (0-1) in September 2023.

Since Euro 2024, Slovakia have played five home games, winning three times and drawing twice. They've scored seven goals and conceded just twice - keeping four clean sheets.

Today's Football Fixtures

Slovakia scored either side of half-time in their 2-0 win over Germany last month, while Luxembourg have lost both halves in two of their last three matches. Disciplinary issues have plagued the Red Lions' qualification campaign so far, with red cards issued to them against both Northern Ireland and Germany.

The strong home and defensive record of Slovakia, coupled with Luxembourg's poor away and goalscoring record, leads me to think that backing a Slovakia win to nil is the obvious play here.

But we can increase our odds by going further and backing Slovakia to win both halves, as they did against Germany in September.

Remember, goal difference could come into play in Group A, and with Calzona's charges currently below the top two, Monday's game could be useful to improve their standing in that regard, so I expect the hosts to go 'at it' in both halves.

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