Wales vs Slovakia Betting Tips & Predictions

Wales undoubtedly struggle without their star player Gareth Bale, and it has showed when he hasn’t lined up in red. They have been without Bale for matches against Ukraine, Northern Ireland, and Netherlands recently and have lost two of these and drawn the other. The last time he played was in a 2-0 win over Andorra, where he bagged the second goal of the game to take his personal tally to seven goals during the qualification period.

This seven goal haul means he scored 64% of Wales’ goals during qualifying, and he assisted two more as well. This makes Wales, statistically, the team most reliant on a single player in the tournament

It’s not like they don’t have other dangerous players as well though. Aaron Ramsey, Joe Allen, and Joe Ledley all provide genuine class and quality in midfield and their defensive players such as Ashley Williams, Ashley Richards, and Ben Davies helped them to one of the best defensive record in qualifying. They only scored four goals in their ten games in Group B, finishing two points behind winners Belgium and four ahead of Bosnia-Herzegovina in 3rd.

Slovakia are heavily reliant on one players’ class too. Marek Hamsik makes the entire Slovakia team tick and if he doesn’t turn up the whole team drops a level. Fortunately for Slovakia, he has been turning up. They have won five of their last seven and lost none, including a 3-1 win over Germany to follow on from a 3-1 win over Georgia in their warm up friendlies in May. They have also beaten Iceland and Switzerland recently, so they are certainly a side to be reckoned with.

This showed in qualifying as they finished 2nd behind Spain and three points clear of Ukraine in 3rd having collected 22 points from a possible 30.

Both of these sides have standout players that can turn a game on it’s head. Wales have only failed to score in three of their last nine matches but have let their defensive stability slip recently with just one clean sheet in their last five games.

Slovakia showed their own attacking prowess with three goals against Germany, and they have scored 18 goals in their last seven matches and only failed to find the net once. They have only kept one clean sheet during this period though and have shipped nine goals.

This makes odds of 23/20 for Both Teams to Score look excellent value for money, as both teams have the attacking capabilities to break down each others’ defences. I’m backing a 2-1 Slovakia win at 11/1 as well.