Czech Republic vs Portugal Predictions

• Czech Republic have avoided defeat in five of their last six home Nations League games.
• Portugal have failed to win three of their last four away Nations League contests.
• Patrik Schick has scored seven goals in his last eight appearances for his country.

Slick Schick can punish Portugal 

Czech Republic can do themselves – and Spain – a favour by avoiding defeat against a talented Portuguese side that may still lack the backbone to fully trust on their travels. Jaroslav Silhavy’s side are third in Group 2, a mere point ahead of Switzerland in the race to avoid relegation and will play Portugal in front of a full house at Fortuna Arena on Saturday.

The hosts will be boosted by the return of Patrik Schick, who scored 24 Bundesliga goals in 27 appearances for Leverkusen last season but has played in only two matches for the national team over the last year. His absence was keenly felt during the Czechs’ unsuccessful World Cup play-off and Nations League matches in June.

Having said that, Silhavy’s men did manage to take four points from their two home games against Switzerland and Spain and will be no pushover for the Portuguese here as they scrap to avoid the drop to League B. Portugal need to win in Prague to ensure they still have a chance of making the final four going into their group finale against Spain – unless Luis Enrique’s men also drop points at home to the Swiss.

Back hosts to avoid defeat in Prague

They have proven adept at performing when the pressure is on, such as when beating Turkey and North Macedonia to advance to Qatar via the play-offs in March – but both of those games were in Porto. Away from home, a Selecao can still be a bit brittle when they come up against a determined opponent and that should be the case this weekend.

Portugal failed to beat Serbia and the Republic of Ireland on the road in World Cup qualifying and a Czech team with Schick in it should be as good or better than those teams. Therefore, it’s an easy call to prefer the hosts in the double chance market to the overrated visitors and a 1-1 draw looks a good call for correct score backers.

Portugal have conceded just ten goals in their last 13 competitive non-tournament away games and rarely more than once in a match. Fernando Santos’ side have only been blanked in three of those 13 games themselves, but will come up against a Czech defence that has conceded only nine goals in their last ten home qualifiers/Nations League games.