Wales vs Slovakia Predictions

It may only be match-day 2 but this is a really big game in Group E of European Championship qualifying. If things go as expected, Wales and Slovakia are likely to end up fighting for one qualification position in this group with Croatia the favourites to win it. Sunday’s meeting in Cardiff will give us the first indicator of how that battle may play out.

It will also give us further clues as to whether or not Wales are making any progress under Ryan Giggs. Their Nations League campaign produced two wins over the Republic of Ireland but two defeats to Denmark and they haven’t impressed in three friendlies so far under the former Manchester United man. They needed a 90th minute goal from Ben Woodburn to beat Trinidad & Tobago in midweek in Wrexham, although it was a fairly experimental line-up with several key men rested.

Slovakia meanwhile have already got their qualifying campaign underway. They did that with a 2-0 home win over Hungary on Thursday night, a very decent start to the group for them. Victory in Cardiff would put them in a strong position and leave Wales with a lot of catching up to do, with the Croats having also won their opening game.

The Welsh fans got a real appetite for major international tournaments at Euro 2016 and they will create a good atmosphere for this crunch clash. That could make a difference and make things tough for a Slovakian side that hasn’t travelled well in recent years. They’ve lost 6 of their last 7 away international matches. All of their last 4 competitive away games have ended in defeats and that includes two trips to the UK with World Cup qualifying losses against England and Scotland.

That should give Wales no reason to fear this Slovak side. The hosts have Gareth Bale available and while he hasn’t been in good form for Real Madrid, he generally thrives off the added responsibility of leading the line for his country. The emergence of David Brooks gives Wales another bright young option in midfield and they have enough quality to break down a relatively inexperienced Slovakian defence which has been hampered by the recent retirements of Martin Skrtel and Tomas Hubocan, who had over 160 caps between them but called time on their international careers in November.

Overall, backing Wales to Win looks like the way to go here.

Backing Over 2.5 Goals at relatively long odds could also be worth a flutter as both sides appear to have defensive flaws. Slovakia are having to find new options following those retirements while Ashley Williams is a declining force for Wales, who are also missing his usual central defensive partner James Chester. Both sides have some genuine midfield and attacking quality so this could be more open than the bookies are expecting.