We have reached the closing stages of 2022 World Cup qualifying in Europe and on Saturday the 13th of November we have a meeting between Belgium and Estonia.
The match will be played at the King Baudouin Stadium, Brussels, with Belgium currently top of the group on 16 points and Estonia in fourth place on 4 points.
Belgium come into the match on the back of two defeats in the Nations League Finals. They lost the semi-final of the competition 3-2 in an exciting game against France and then slipped to a 2-1 loss against Italy in the playoff for third and fourth place.
The defeat against France ended a run of 3 straight victories for Belgium, all of which came in 2022 World Cup qualifying. The Red Devils beat Estonia 5-2 away, Czech Republic 3-0 at home, and Belarus 1-0 away.
Their recent World Cup qualifying record is excellent and Belgium are currently on a run of 26 matches without defeat. They have won each of their last 5 home World Cup qualifying fixtures and you must go back to the defeat against Bosnia in 2009 to find the last time Belgium lost a World Cup qualifying match at home.
Trends show Belgium have won their last 5 home matches in World Cup qualification by at least 2 goals, scoring 3 or more goals and keeping 4 clean sheets in the process.
Estonia make the trip to the King Baudouin Stadium having lost 1-0 at home to Wales in their previous World Cup qualifying fixture. Wales were the better team but Estonia will be disappointed they could not take something against the team they held away from home early in the group.
That result means Estonia have won only 1 of their last 5 games in all competitions and that was a 2-0 home win over Belarus in World Cup qualifying.
Their away record shows they are not always easy to beat and Estonia have lost only 1 of their last 5 away World Cup qualifying matches. They defeated Gibraltar 6-0 and picked up a point in 0-0 draws against Cyprus, Greece, and Wales.
Trends show in their last 27 games in all competitions, Estonia have recorded only 2 wins. The last time they met Belgium away in a World Cup qualifying game in 2016, the match ended 8-1 in favour of the hosts.
Team news and Belgium are without injured striker Romelu Lukaku. Michy Batshuayi is also unavailable so it will be interesting to see who they start in attack. Central midfielder Youri Tielemans also misses out for the hosts.
Estonia are without central defender Märten Kuusk who is suspended. Mattias Käit and Bogdan Vaštšuk are injured.
This should be a comfortable home victory for Belgium, even without a couple of key players. We expect the hosts to keep a clean sheet and score plenty of goals on their way to 3 points.