Iceland vs Albania Predictions

• Iceland have never won a game in the Nations League group stage (D1, L10).
• Albania went unbeaten in all of their away games during the last Nations League season.
• Albania are unbeaten in eight of their last 12 away internationals.

Iceland must keep their cool to bypass Albania

After a hard-fought and somewhat surprising 2-2 draw in their Nations League opener with Israel, Iceland are in a good position to top the group with victory in this game given that Israel will not play in this round due to Russia’s suspension.

However, winning a game in the Nations League is easier said than done for Iceland, a nation that is yet to win any game in this competition which is now in it’s third edition!

There are mitigating factors to their lack of success though, namely spending the first two campaigns in the top division despite finishing bottom each time before finally being relegated into League B.

The momentum lies with Albania

Promoted from League C last term, Albania enter this game on the back of three consecutive away Nations League clean sheets (W1, D2). Granted, those clean sheets were against lesser opposition than they now face in League B, though fresher legs may play into the visitors hands.

It took the mighty Spain until the 90th minute to finally get the better of Albania in their last away trip while also beating Hungary to make up two of their last three away internationals. That is significant as Hungary are ranked 23 places higher than Iceland, suggesting that Albania can give Iceland a stern test in Reykjavik.

On the balance of things, we think that the value lies in backing Albania to get a positive result. We are going for Albania or draw in the double chance market, though this game could easily descend into a bore draw, so we have gone for 0-0 in the correct score market to suit.