Slovenia vs Switzerland
Sports Mole previews Monday’s World Cup Qualifying – Europe clash between Slovenia and Switzerland, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Switzerland will be looking to continue their perfect start to their World Cup qualifying campaign when they travel to Ljubljana for a tasty clash with Slovenia this Monday night.
The Red Crosses have accumulated three wins from their opening three games, while the Slovenians are desperate for points as they chase down second spot in Group B.
Match previewWe are at the halfway mark of qualifiers in Group B, though it appears that Switzerland have already laid claim to the top spot following their impressive start.
Murat Yakin and his men not only won all three of their group matches so far, but they also did so very comfortably – scoring nine goals along the way and conceding none.
Switzerland have successfully qualified for the last five editions of the World Cup, and they are well on track to making it six, with the Swiss train showing no signs of stopping.
Yakin’s side extended their winning run to six straight matches courtesy of a 2-0 victory away in Sweden last Friday night – a game which was meant to be their toughest test during this qualifying campaign.
Next on the agenda is a trip to Slovenia, and if the head-to-head record is anything to go by, Switzerland will be targeting another set of three points.
The Swiss have won six of their last seven matches against Slovenia – this includes last month’s 3-0 demolition in Basel.
Speaking of the Slovenians, their World Cup qualifying campaign has been a disappointing one, with the team managing just two points from their opening three games.
After scoring a last-gasp equaliser against Sweden in their group opener, Slovenia were thumped in the aforementioned match in Basel.
Conceding three goals away in Switzerland ended up playing on the mind of head coach Matjaz Kek, who completely changed the system for Friday’s encounter against Kosovo, prioritising the defence.
One positive of shifting his formation from 4-4-2 to a 3-5-2 was the fact Slovenia kept a clean sheet away in Pristina – the negative, however, was a lack of focus on the attack, which squandered a host of goalscoring opportunities.
Kek and his men will now be looking to strike a fine balance between attack and defence as their quest for qualifying points continues in Ljubljana.
Slovenia trail second-placed Kosovo by two points heading into their fourth fixture, with pressure beginning to seriously ramp up on the team as they look to end their 16-year wait for a World Cup appearance.
Slovenia World Cup Qualifying – Europe form:
D L DÂ
Slovenia form (all competitions):
W W W D L DÂ
Switzerland World Cup Qualifying – Europe form:
W W WÂ
Switzerland form (all competitions):
W W W W W WÂ
Team News
Atletico Madrid goalkeeper and Slovenia’s captain Jan Oblak is set to make history this Monday as he prepares to become the joint-most capped shot-stopper in his country’s history.
Manchester United striker Benjamin Sesko is expected to lead the attack, despite his underwhelming display against Kosovo last time out.
In terms of injuries, Jan Mlakar is a notable absentee, with the forward missing his last four games for club and country.
Switzerland, on the other hand, will be led by captain Granit Xhaka, who is enjoying a fine run of form with three goal contributions to his name from four games. What is more, he opened the scoring against Sweden last Friday.
Breel Embolo is expected to lead the attack, with the player needing just one more goal to go joint-ninth in the all-time Swiss goalscoring chart.
The visitors are also heading into Monday’s game with a number of missing players, including Denis Zakaria, Michel Aebischer and Ardon Jashari.
Slovenia possible starting lineup:
Oblak; Karnicnik, Drkusic, Bijol, Brekalo; Stojanovic, Elsnik, Gnezda Cerin, Seslar; Sesko, Gradisar
Switzerland possible starting lineup:
Kobel; Rodriguez, Akanji, Elvedi, Widmer; Rieder, Xhaka, Freuler; Vargas, Embolo, Ndoye
We say: Slovenia 0-2 SwitzerlandSlovenia have now failed to score in their last two outings, and their attacking output looked particularly poor against a low-ranked Kosovo side on Friday.
Switzerland are riding a huge wave of momentum, and we expect the visitors to maintain their perfect start to World Cup qualification with another big away win.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
ID:583398:1false2false3false: from db desktop :LenBod:collect7396:
No Data Analysis info
Previews by emailClick here to get Sports Mole’s daily email of previews and predictions for every major game!
