United Arab Emirates vs Kyrgyzstan Predictions

Tournament hosts UAE did make it through their group without too much fuss in the end, but they haven’t created the most positive impression so far. Having won just one of their three group games and having failed to beat Thailand last time out, it’s fair to say that they’ve certainly not wowed the crowds on home soil. That said, they will be happy with the draw and are thus likely to fancy themselves ahead of this last-16 match.

First time up, UAE were perhaps a tad unfortunate not to beat Bahrain; they dominated the game in terms of both possession and chances created, while they emerged with an expected goal difference of +0.76. That said, they were perhaps fortunate to beat India on match-day two, so the tournament hosts haven’t been that hard done by.

Against Bahrain, UAE looked reasonably useful with the ball; they created chances and gave the impression that they could certainly cause teams problems. However, since the opening match, the hosts have seemingly gone backwards. They created just 0.45 expected goals against India on match-day two, while they were very disappointing when drawing with Thailand last time out. On that occasion, they tried to be proactive, though they lacked ideas in possession and looked somewhat toothless in the final third. The fact that they were outperformed in terms of expected goals by Thailand was disappointing.

With this match being in Abu Dhabi, UAE are fancied to get the job done, though it’s hard to agree with their skinny pre-match price.

Kyrgyzstan didn’t turn too many heads during the group, and they did lose (1-0) to an abysmal North Korean side, though some of their performances were encouraging. They matched the Chinese in all areas on match-day one and were unlucky not to get a point, while they offered plenty going forward when beating the Philippines last time out.

It is worrying that they allowed North Korea to create plenty of scoring chances against them, and such an effort doesn’t bode well going into the knockouts, but it’s easy to feel that Kyrgyzstan can cause the hosts a few problems at the back. They’re currently averaging 1.51 expected goals for, while they showed decent end-product in their last match.

In the betting, ‘Both Teams to Score’ catches the eye. Kyrgyzstan haven’t looked great at the back, which is why every team that they’ve played against at this tournament has found the net, though they’ve offered enough going forward to suggest that they can hurt a UAE back-line that has looked shaky. With both teams averaging 1.33 goals for per game, a bet on both to notch on Monday stands out as the best option at the current prices.