Sweden suffered another devastating loss in Graham Potter’s debut and remain winless ahead of the final clash with Slovenia, who are in a similarly hopeless situation.
Blagult’s recent managerial change is yet to bear fruit, as Graham Potter’s Sweden suffered a 4-1 defeat away to Switzerland. With this, Sweden forfeited their final chance of making it to the World Cup through these qualifications, but fortunately, they will get another opportunity soon enough.
Sweden secured a playoff seed through the Nations League earlier this year, but they need an immediate improvement, as the playoffs will follow right after this final round. Beating Slovenia is mandatory even if it means nothing in the WCQs, and Sweden have never before had a qualification campaign without a single win.
Slovenia are the other team in Group B without a win after five rounds, most recently conceding a 2-0 at home to Kosovo. Goals have been extremely hard to find for the Dragons and absences like Sesko make it even harder to score.
How the bookies view it: Sweden to end the cycle on a high
With both teams chasing their first win of the cycle, bookmakers believe Sweden have the better chances to end their bad streak. You can currently back the hosts at around 11/20, while Slovenia are available at 5/1. With multiple draws between them in recent years, you can also back this option again at 3/1.
Recent head-to-head: Sweden are undefeated
Sweden and Slovenia have been involved in a total of five H2Hs in the last 17 years, with the Dragons still chasing their first win over Blagult. The last couple of H2Hs were draws, while Sweden won once in 2022 and once in 2008. The only positive for Slovenia is that their only two goals in the WCQs were scored against Sweden in September.
Players to watch: Elanga needs a goal to revive his season
Viktor Gyokeres remains injured and Alexander Isak barely played 29 minutes against Switzerland following his recent groin injury, which makes us believe he will not be among the starters again.
In their absence, we have to back Newcastle’s Anthony Elanga to provide the reasons for celebrations. The 23-year-old desperately needs to put his name on the scoresheets again, as his last goal for club or country came in September in the reverse fixture with Slovenia.
Probable line-ups
Sweden: Johansson, Holm, Lagerbielke, Hien, Svensson, Elanga, Ayari, Karlstrom, Bernhardsson, Nygren, Svanberg
Slovenia: Oblak, Karnicnik, Brekalo, Bijol, Drkusic, Janza, Stankovic, Horvat, Elsnik, Vipotnik, Sporar
Anything else catch the eye?
On paper, both teams’ attacking performances do not suggest a high-scoring contest. But the lack of any meaning behind this match leaves us with the impression that we could see more from them than usual. The first match in September featured four goals (2-2), so we could be in for a final treat.
This time, however, we expect Sweden to come through with the win, as Graham Potter must already realise what he needs to change to get the best out of his squad. Both sides have struggled defensively, which is another reason to believe we could see some goals.
GambleAware