Switzerland vs Qatar Predictions

Having exited the World Cup at the hands of Sweden in the last-16, Switzerland bounced back with a resounding 6-0 victory over Iceland in the UEFA Nations League, though they followed that excellent win by coming up short against both England and Belgium, showing that they still can’t cut it against the top teams. That said, the hosts will be confident of building some momentum with a win here after they regained the winning thread in Iceland last time out.

Since the World Cup ended, it’s been a bit of a mixed bag for Switzerland, who’ve enjoyed both some good and some not so good moments. Against both Belgium and England, though they competed and were far from outclassed, they lacked the quality to make real headway.

However, in their two victories over Iceland, the Swiss impressed; they got forward, created plenty of scoring chances and defended well at the same time, especially in terms of limiting their opponents to few chances. A similar performance against a Qatar side that aren’t expected to have a great deal about them would likely see Vladimir Petković’s men record a comfortable victory.

Qatar have also experienced mixed results of late. Thursday’s visitors have won three of their last five and have lost each of the other two. Prior to losing 2-0 away against Uzbekistan last time out, Félix Sánchez Bas’ men had won three on the bounce, recording wins over both China and Ecuador. Having said that, the visitors don’t exactly have the most inspiring record on the road of late.

Since recording a narrow 1-0 victory away against Andorra in late 2017, Qatar have lost four out of five on the road. In those four losses, they’ve conceded ten goals, while they’ve scored just two at the other end. Bas’ side have failed to score in each of their last two away games, misfiring against Traiskirchen and Uzbekistan. Such form doesn’t exactly suggest that the 2022 World Cup hosts can trouble a Swiss side that is used to keeping clean sheets at home.

The bet that stands out ahead of this fixture is ‘Switzerland to Win to Nil’. The hosts have an excellent record of keeping teams quiet on their own patch, while Qatar don’t exactly have the most menacing attack, as their most recent trip to Europe, which saw them score just once against minnows Andorra, proved. With eight clean sheets in their last ten home games, eight of which have been wins, the Swiss are backed to get the better of their visitors without conceding.