Sweden vs Bulgaria Predictions & Betting Tips, Match Previews

Sweden managed to get their first World Cup qualifying win under their belts when they visited Luxembourg on Friday. It was a tight margin of victory considering their opponents’ minnow status, but the visiting Swedes held onto the ball well and carved out a lot of attacking opportunities. Only Mikael Lustig was able to take an opportunity though, winning the game 1-0 but highlighting the need for another top quality striker in their ranks.

This followed on from their 1-1 draw at home to the Netherlands last month, and they seem to be well on their way to recovering from a very poor Euro 2016 campaign which saw them pick up just one point from their three group games in Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s rather low-key swansong.

Sweden really do need to up their game if they want to make it to Russia in 2018 as well. France and Netherlands are the favourites to take the top two positions in the group, and if Sweden are to have any chance of going to the World Cup they will need to out qualify at least one of those teams.

Bulgaria’s second outing in the World Cup qualifiers didn’t go quite as well as Sweden’s. They got off to a great start when they netted a penalty after just six minutes in France, but a Kevin Gameiro, Antoine Griezmann, and Dimitri Payet masterclass resulted in a 4-1 defeat for the visitors.

This followed on from a thrilling 4-3 win over Luxembourg in their group opener, but there are serious doubts over their quality. Recent months have seen them lose 4-0 to Denmark and 7-2 against Japan as they played in the Kirin Cup. They did manage to beat Portugal in a friendly in March, but they have still lost six of their last ten games.

Away from home Bulgaria have conceded 15 goals in their last three outings, but they will be happy to find out that Sweden have only netted six goals in their last five home matches. Three of those came in a friendly win over Wales as well, so they are quite a defensively minded side.

I expect Sweden to be controlling the possession in this game, and as a result I’m not expecting many goals. Just two of their last seven at home have seen three or more goals scored in them, and that lack of goals was reinforced by their 1-0 win over Luxembourg on Friday. Bulgaria have seen fewer than three goals in four of their last eight games away from home, so odds of 17/20 for Under 2.5 Goals look a good value bet. I’m going for a 1-0 win for Sweden at 9/2 for my correct score prediction.