On Tuesday night, Sweden host Spain at the Friends Arena in Group F of qualifying for the European Championships, as both teams look to move closer to sealing at next years tournament.

Sweden (Odds of 4/6 for victory)

The home side regarded as second-favourites to qualify from Group F after Tuesday night’s opponents at the start of the campaign. The Scandinavian team are second in the group with just three games remaining. However, they are far from certain of qualifying for Euro 2020.

Janne Anderson’s side are just a point clear of third-place Romania, and a further point clear of Scandinavian rivals Norway in the quest for the second automatic qualification spot in the group.

The home side could have done with a meeting with the group leaders at this stage of the campaign. However, a 4-0 victory over Malta means that Sweden have lost just once in their last 11 qualifiers for the European Championships. That defeat was in the reverse fixture, though, as they went down to a 3-0 defeat.

Sweden’s recent home record in qualifying will give them cause for optimism heading into this clash, as they have won four of their last five qualifiers for the European Championships. Their record dating back further shows that the home side have in fact lost just once in 20 home qualifiers.

Spain (Odds of 17/4 for victory)

La Roja could virtually seal their spot at next years European Championships with a victory here. They are currently six points clear of third-place Romania, with a superior head-to-head record, goal difference and a home game to come against the Romanians.

The visitors could have sealed their qualification with a victory against Norway last time out. However, a late goal from Bournemouth’s Josh King rescued a 1-1 draw for the Scandinavians. The draw ended a run of 14 straight wins for Spain in European Championship qualifiers dating back to 2014.

The draw in Oslo was also the first time that Spain had not scored at least two goals in F. This game could be a similarly tight encounter.

The visitors have been formidable on their travels in recent qualification campaigns, as they are unbeaten in eight qualifiers, having recorded seven wins in the process. Once again that draw with Norway blotted their copybook. La Roja have also scored in their last 17 European Championships qualifiers on the road, with their last away blank coming way back in 2006, ironically in Sweden.

Conclusion

Usually Spain are easy to back on their travels against most teams. However, Sweden have developed a reputation as a team who hard to play against and hard to beat. The Scandinavians had a reputation for their games being low-scoring. Their qualification campaign has bucked the trend, as there have been over 2.5 goals scored in six of their seven Euro 2020 qualifiers. This clash should be a much tighter game though.

Spain usually have the tools to break down teams such as Sweden. However, as their draw against Norway proved, they cannot win them all. We are backing La Roja to record a victory, but the home side could very possibly grind out a draw. With the quality in the visitor’s squad, they should have enough to see-off the Swedish threat.

Verdict: Back the away win at odds of 1/ 4 and under 2.5 goals scored at odds of 9/10 (All odds are taken from Bet365).

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