Switzerland sailed through their opening World Cup qualifier away from home against Bulgaria in Group C despite facing what seemed to be a tricky outing first time up in their World Cup qualifying campaign as the Swiss registered a 3-1 win at the Stadion Vasil Levski in Sofia.
Switzerland now return to home soil at their Kybunpark for this upcoming clash against Lithuania who are expected to find themselves at the bottom of Group C while Switzerland will be looking to make hay while the sun shines and collect another maximum three points here.
Die ersten 3⃣ PunkteLes 3⃣ premiers pointsI primi 3⃣ punti#natimiteuch #lanatiavecvous #lanaticonvoi#BULSUI pic.twitter.com/fiP6ThG7ow— 🇨🇭 Nati (@nati_sfv_asf) March 25, 2021
Die ersten 3⃣ PunkteLes 3⃣ premiers pointsI primi 3⃣ punti#natimiteuch #lanatiavecvous #lanaticonvoi#BULSUI pic.twitter.com/fiP6ThG7ow
The win against Bulgaria became Switzerland’s second win on the trot following a 3-0 home win over Ukraine in the Nations League back in November of last year, while results on the World Cup qualifying stage have been extremely solid; the hosts have lost just once in their last 31 matches overall.
The Swiss are also unbeaten in their last 15 qualifiers at home, winning 11 of these and also keeping 11 clean sheets during this solid sequence too - and they also recorded a convincing 4-0 win in their last meeting at home against Lithuania.
Onto the visitors then, and Lithuania sat out Matchday 1 of these World Cup qualifiers but played a friendly against Kosovo and perhaps wished they hadn’t as they were handed a heavy 4-0 defeat on Wednesday night, prior to this tough looking trip to Switzerland on Sunday evening.
Lithuania had actually lost just one of their preceding seven matches in all competitions which included wins against Albania, Estonia, Faroe Islands and Kazakhstan, but with all due respect, they face a very different prospect in the shape of Switzerland in this World Cup opener for the visitors.
The visitors have failed to win any of their last seven World Cup qualifiers overall, losing six of these, while on their travels, Lithuania have mustered just the solitary win out of their last 14 matches which came in the shape of a 2-0 win at Liechtenstein.
Incidentally, that result has been Lithuania’s only clean sheet in their last 14 away matches in World Cup qualifiers and they’re expected to concede against their more illustrious opponents, Switzerland, in this Sunday’s encounter.
Indeed, in a tough group which also contains the likes of Italy and Northern Ireland, Switzerland will see this fixture as a chance to further improve their goal difference and look set to beat the -2.5 asian handicap line.