Sweden (FIFA Ranking 18) v Slovakia (36), Fri 18th June 14:00

Both of these sides opened their campaign with positive results. Sweden held Spain to a goalless stalemate, albeit with their opponents having their chances in front of goal, while Slovakia earnt a win over Poland, even if they benefited from Grzegorz Krychowiak’s harsh sending off before finding the winner.

Those results leave Sweden unbeaten in six, winning each of their previous five, while Slovakia are also unbeaten in six, although four of these ended in stalemates. Both sides are better equipped at the back than going forwards, with Sweden even conceding just once in six, so we’d expect this encounter to be decided by fine margins. In fact, only one of Slovakia’s past 13 matches have been settled one way or the other by more than a single goal, with over half of them ending in a draw over 90 minutes.

Sweden don’t look like losing this one with each of their past seven defeats coming against either France, Spain, Portugal, Denmark or Croatia, all of whom are considerably better than their opponents here. However, six of the Swede’s nine victories since the start of 2020 have come by just a single strike, with the exceptions against weaker outfits Kosovo, Finland and Armenia. This spell included narrow 1-0 wins over the likes of Moldova, Kosovo, Georgia and Estonia, so the correct score is worth paying attention to here.

Although Slovakia scored twice against Poland, it was notable that their opener came from an own goal as Robert Mak’s shot cannoned off the post onto the back of goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny, while the winner came from Milan Skriniar’s sweet strike from the edge of the box. We wouldn’t put too much faith in their centre-back, undoubtedly their best player, coming up trumps again in the opposition box. Further, with three points already under their belts, they’ll be more likely to dig in for another valuable point that would likely send them into the next round.

Sweden Win To Nil @ 2.95, (Red Zone)