Austria vs Sweden Predictions

Despite being knocked out by England in the quarter-finals, Sweden enjoyed a pleasing summer in Russia. With that strong showing behind them, the Swedes will be hoping to continue moving on up when they visit Austria on Thursday evening.

Austria did of course fail to book their place at the recent World Cup, though they follow up what was a disappointing qualification campaign by going on a pleasing winning run, a run which included a victory against the Germans. That said, Franco Foda’s men come into this fixture having lost by three goals to nil against Brazil when they played in June.

On their own patch, the Austrians have a reasonably pleasing recent record. Barring that defeat against a side that reached the World Cup quarter finals, Thursday’s hosts have won each of their last five matches, scoring an impressive 11 goals in the process. What’s more, it’s not as if they’ve beaten poor sides either. During that time, Austria have beaten the likes of Serbia, Uruguay, Russia and Germany, four countries who were all present at the World Cup during the summer.

Sweden’s World Cup run did end when they lost to England in the quarter-finals, though they weren’t massively outplayed on that occasion, while their efforts prior to that defeat were pleasing.

As was to be expected, the Swedes went to Russia, were well-organised, disciplined tactically and hard to break down. On top of that, they were a threat from set pieces, while Leipzig’s attacking midfielder Emile Forsberg provided a creative spark.

In terms of what they did prior to the big tournament, Sweden didn’t often win on the road, though if they can continue to deliver performances like those we saw in Russia, then Janne Andersson’s men should be capable of getting seriously competitive in this fixture.

Despite failing to qualify for the World Cup, Austria are anything but a poor side. They’ve got some creative players in David Alaba, Alessandro Schopf and Florian Grillitsch, all of whom can be seen offering a threat in the Bundesliga on any given weekend, while in Mark Arnautovic they have a forward who is as threatening with the ball at his feet as he is physically. However, from a defensive point of view, Franco Foda’s side hasn’t often looked all that strong.

Going forward, Austria, who’ve found the net in all but four of their sixteen home matches since the start of 2016, can make headway on Thursday evening, though if their recent defensive efforts are anything to go by then Sweden, who made a knack of stealing goals on the break at the World Cup, can also make their presence felt in the final third. After all, the likes of Uruguay, Serbia, Georgia, Finland, Ireland and Wales have all returned from Austria with at least one goal in the bag during the last couple of years.