Wales vs Moldova Predictions & Betting Tips, Match Previews

Wales couldn’t have hoped for a more successful summer in France. They finished just behind Belgium in their qualifying group but ahead of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Israel, Cyprus and Andorra. This granted them a return to a major finals after a long absence.

Their group included England, Slovakia, and Russia and many people thought it was touch and go as to whether they would qualify. Excellent victories against Slovakia and Russia, either side of a last minute defeat to England, saw them finish top of their group and progress to the knockout stages. It didn’t end there though, as they knocked both Northern Ireland and Belgium out to make it to the semi finals. Unfortunately they couldn’t get past eventual winners Portugal, but a semi final appearance was beyond most Wales fans’ expectations.

Now Wales must put that behind them and focus on making it to Russia in 2018, and whilst a home match against Moldova is a pretty straight forward affair they will need to fight against Austria, Serbia and Republic of Ireland for qualification from this group.

Moldova are perennially at the bottom of the qualification tables. Last time out they picked up just two points from a possible 30 to finish three points behind 5th placed Liechtenstein in their group, and this campaign isn’t expected to be much different.

Moldova’s last outing was in a friendly against Switzerland in the build up to Euro 2016. They lost that match 2-1 to make it seven defeats, one draw and one win from their last nine outings. Away from home they have won just one of their last 14 matches, and that came against minnows Andorra.

The visitors don’t generally get hammered by the opposition though, although with them facing a stern Wales defence who have only conceded in two of their last five home games, I think it could be a comfortable evening for Wales. With Gareth Bale leading the attack I can see Wales getting a couple of goals at least and possibly keeping a clean sheet, so odds of 1.925 for a Wales -1.5 Asian Handicap Win look good value to me. I’m also going for a 2-0 correct score prediction at 15/4.