Both the Czech Republic and Ukraine will be bidding to bounce back from their respective matchday one defeats in the Nations League when the pair face off at Fortuna Arena on Tuesday night.
The Czech Republic found themselves on the wrong end of a 4-1 thumping from Georgia on Saturday evening, in a game where both of my tips landed in Tbilisi.
That matchday one body blow means the Lions find themselves propping up Group B1 after just one round of action.
Seeking to rebound at the first time of asking, Ivan Hasek's side will be targeting top honours when they take on Ukraine on Tuesday night.
It would appear that Ukraine may still have something of a hangover after the disappointment of their early exit at Euro 2024.
Serhiy Rebrov’s side stumbled to a somewhat surprising 2-1 defeat when going up against Albania at the Epet Arena in Prague at the weekend.
How the bookies view it: Czechs to chalk up win
Despite coming into this contest off the back of a 4-1 crushing from Georgia, the Czech Republic are the bookmakers favourites here at a best price of 27/20 with UniBet.
Ukraine are 21/10 outisders on Bet 365 while a point apiece in Prague has been priced up at 5/2 on Betfred.
Head to head: Duo evenly matched
The two nations have crossed paths five times, each claiming two wins, while the other meeting ended all square. In fact, Tuesday night’s tussle will be the first time the two teams have met since drawing 1-1 in a friendly fixture almost three years to the day.
Players to watch: Cofual to land another card?
Vladimir Coufal was booked during the Czech Republic's 4-1 to defeat Georgia last time out. That means the West Ham man has been carded in two his last three appearances for his country, making him an appealing prospect to pick up another caution here at 15/4 on Bet 365.
Andriy Yarmolenko, who currently finds himself two goals behind Ukraine's all-time leading goalscorer Andriy Shevchenko, is an eye-catching 3/1 on Bet 365 to make the net bulge on Tuesday night.
Predicted line-ups
Matej Rynes was a first half casualty for the Czech Republic on Saturday after sustaining an injury and is likely to be again replaced by Jaroslav Zeleny.
Having started Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to Armenia on the bench, Oleksandr Zinchenko is expected to be restored to Ukraine’s starting XI here.
Czech Republic: Kovar; Zima, Krejci, Vitik; Coufal, Soucek, Kalvach, Zeleny; Provod, Schick, Hlozek
Ukraine: Trubin; Konoplya, Zabarnyi, Matvienko, Mykolenko; Sudakov, Zinchenko, Shaparenko; Tsygankov, Yaremchuk, Kabaev
Anything else catch the eye?
Over 2.5 goals has been priced up at 9/10 with Bet 365 and those odds hold plenty of appeal on Tuesday night.
There have been a minimum of three match strikes in eight of the Czech Republic's last nine matches across all competitions.
On top of this, goals-based backers would have banked profit from seven of Ukraine’s last nine matches.
With all that in mind, siding with a repeat here at 9/10 (Bet 365) looks a nice spot of value at the price on offer.
This UEFA Nations League match between Czech Republic and Ukraine will be played on Sep 10, 2024 and kick off at 19:45. Check below for our tipsters best Czech Republic vs Ukraine prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
