Malta vs Slovakia Predictions

• At least three goals have been scored in all four of Malta’s home World Cup qualifiers for Qatar 2022.
• At least three goals have been scored in Slovakia’s last two matches (both 2-2 draws)
• At least three goals were scored in both matches between these sides in World Cup qualifying for Russia 2018.

Two sides with only pride at stake

Malta and Slovakia have nothing but pride and potential future seeding to play for when they meet in their final Group H clash in Valetta on Sunday.

Devis Mangia’s men gave Croatia a bit of a scare when they pulled a goal back to trail only 2-1 on Thursday, but their visitors stepped up to another level by firing in another five goals without reply. Malta are likely to give it another go against the Slovaks this weekend and may find their opponents a little more generous than the 2018 World Cup finalists.

Slovakia are a steady team with a few good players and some more with potential, but they generally lack squad depth. Although it was actually two substitutes that provided the spark for them to come from behind twice to earn a point against Slovenia on Thursday.

Too many draws have held Slovakia back

Stefan Tarkovic’s side have drawn too many games in this qualification programme and, while they have only lost twice and narrowly to Russia and Croatia, they took only a point from Malta in the reverse fixture.

Another slip-up cannot be totally ruled out from a team who were punished for their mistakes on Thursday, so our preferred bet will be on at least three goals being scored.

All four of Malta’s home qualifiers have been ‘overs’ games and we see no reason why this end-of-term affair won’t produce a few goals. Slovakia have scored at least two in their last three meetings with the Falcons and conceded in two of those games too – hence our score prediction is a 1-2 outcome rather than a 0-3 result.