Despite only being into the third month of domestic football in some of Europe’s biggest leagues, we have already ran into the third international break. In one of the earliest games, Switzerland play host to Qatar where preparations for hosting the World Cup are underway.

STATS

• Switzerland performed very well in the group stage at the World Cup in the summer but after being unbeaten in the three matches, they were dumped out by Sweden in the last 16. Since then, they have won two and lost two of the four games they have played. They destroyed Iceland 6-0 in their Nations League opener before a narrow 2-1 loss against Belgium and another win against Iceland.
• Qatar unsurprisingly failed to qualify for the World Cup but their form since the tournament has been promising. They have won three of their last four matches with victories against China PR, Palestine and Ecuador but they were beaten 2-0 by Uzbekistan last time out. They’ll need to improve against teams like those if they have a hope of beating the heavyweights at their own major tournament.
• Haris Seferovic and Xherdan Shaqiri are the two main attacking threats for the Swiss and against a weak backline, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see them both on the scoresheet.
• With a team of relatively unknown players, Almoez Ali is Qatar’s standout performer and he chips in with a large proportion of their goals.

HEAD TO HEAD

This will the very first meeting between the two sides on the international stage.

SWITZERLAND NEWS

With the Nations League fixture with Belgium round the corner, Switzerland are expected to field a weakened team against Qatar. They are without Stephan Lichtsteiner who has withdrawn from the squad.

Latest matches: Switzerland

15.10.2018	UEFA	Iceland	Switzerland	1:2	W
12.10.2018	UEFA	Belgium	Switzerland	2:1	L
11.09.2018	Int.	England	Switzerland	1:0	L
08.09.2018	UEFA	Switzerland	Iceland	6:0	W
03.07.2018	Worl	Sweden	Switzerland	1:0	L

QATAR NEWS

This game is purely about getting up to speed with European sides for Qatar ahead of what will be a very tough World Cup on home soil.

Latest matches: Qatar

16.10.2018	Int.	Uzbekistan	Qatar	2:0	L
12.10.2018	Int.	Qatar	Ecuador	4:3	W
11.09.2018	Int.	Qatar	Palestine	3:0	W
07.09.2018	Int.	Qatar	China	1:0	W
29.12.2017	Gulf	Qatar	Bahrain	1:1	D

SUMMARY

There is no doubt that Switzerland are huge favourites to win this one and with the odds being so low for them to win, it is worth backing them to win without conceding. Also, betting on them to score three goals or more might be a good idea.