Georgia vs Switzerland Predictions

Switzerland and Georgia commence their bid to qualify for Euro 2020 this Saturday in Tbilisi. Both sides have already secured play-off berths having impressed in the Nations League. That is likely to offer Georgia their best chance of qualifying but the Swiss will still firmly expect to take one of the top two positions in this group, which also includes the Republic of Ireland and Denmark.

The Swiss have only failed to qualify for one major tournament since the 2002 World Cup. They reached the last sixteen in Russia last summer and would have been disappointed to exit against Sweden at that stage. Their most recent international was in the Nations League against Belgium in November and they produced a stunning comeback to win 5-2 having trailed by two goals early on.

Georgia should also take confidence into this game. They were the class act in their Nations League group, winning 5 of their 6 matches to easily claim top spot. Matches against Latvia, Andorra and Kazakhstan though can’t really be seen as solid preparation for the kind of tests they will get in this group.

Their record against stronger sides in recent years is poor, which explains why they found themselves in with the minnows of European football in the Nations League. They failed to win any of their 2018 World Cup qualifiers and took just 2 points from their 5 home games. Wales, Serbia and Austria all managed to win in Tbilisi during that campaign, although none of those sides ran riot.

Georgia are organised but you have to question whether they have enough quality to test a solid Swiss defence that contains experienced campaigners like Stephan Lichtsteiner as well as in-form Newcastle defender Fabian Schär. Switzerland have a good record over the past few years in competitive internationals and won 9 of their 10 group games in World Cup qualifying last time around.

They are though missing star man Xherdan Shaqiri and forward Haris Seferović, who netted a hat-trick in the win over the Belgians. That could limit them in an attacking sense here but they should still have enough to force a breakthrough and backing Switzerland & Under 3.5 Goals appeals.

Going for Switzerland to Win 1-0 looks good in the Correct Score market. Georgia were on the wrong end of three 1-0 defeats in 2018 World Cup qualifying and aren’t likely to be too adventurous in this game.