On Friday night, Sweden hosts Malta at the Friends Arena in Group F of qualifying for next summers European Championships.
Sweden are currently second in the group to Spain, having picked up four points from a possible six in their opening two qualifiers. The Scandinavians recorded a 2-1 win over Romania in their opener and drew 3-3 with neighbours Norway.
Despite that seemingly good start to their qualification campaign, Sweden have been inconsistent overall in recent times, winning just three of their last 11 international outings.
The home side are six games unbeaten in European Championship qualifiers, having recorded four wins and a draw. The Scandinavians have also been prolific in those qualifiers, scoring at least two goals in all six unbeaten matches.
Sweden have a strong recent home record in qualifying, as they have suffered just one defeat in 17 outings while recording five wins in their last six qualifiers on home soil.
Malta have won just one of their last 18 international matches. However, a record of one win, two draws and two defeats is an improvement on previous woeful runs of results.
The visitors opened their qualification campaign with a 2-1 home win over the Faroe Islands before a 2-0 home defeat by Spain last time out.
Although Malta’s recent international’s have not always been high-scoring of late, both teams have scored in six of their last eight outings.
It is fair to say that Malta have a poor recent record in qualifying for the European Championships, as they have won just one of their last 31 qualifiers. They have also suffered three defeats in their last four outings in qualifying while failing to score in all three losses.
Malta have never won away in 46 games in qualifying for the European Championships, suffering 13 defeats in their last 14 qualifiers.
Forebet predicts that Sweden will record a victory in a low-scoring encounter to enhance their chances of qualification for next years tournament.