Spain vs Switzerland Prediction & Betting Tips - UEFA Nations League

Prediction published on 08/10/2020, 01:58  by Daniel Ngulu | Modified on 08/10/2020 at 02:06 in UEFA Nations League Predictions

After their midweek warm up matches, Spain and Switzerland will be facing off in the UEFA Nations League in Madrid this Saturday. While Spain played to a 0-0 draw with Portugal in Lisbon, Switzerland were 2-1 losers to Croatia. For Spain, the draw in Portugal was their 14th straight unbeaten match; they last lost a game in November 2018, falling 3-2 to Croatia. It was also the first time they failed to score in a game since the 2-0 defeat by Italy in Euro 2016, that’s 43 games ago and this could be attributed to the change in personnel, with key players rested. Spain will definitely be back to full strength in the Switzerland clash and playing at home, they will be favorites, having won each of their last seven at home and keeping six clean sheets in the process. In their last match at home, in September, Spain ripped Ukraine apart, beating them 4-0 to stay top of their Nations League group. Though it will be a tougher challenge facing the Swiss, the hosts will be looking to extend their advantage, with Ukraine lurking at three points, one below them. Against Germany in their opening group game, Spain needed a last minute goal from Gaya to earn a point and going to the Saturday game, perhaps they should consider doing their business early. Against Portugal in the Wednesday friendly, they had a fair share of chances in the first half but survived tough moments in the second, with only the frame of goal preventing them from falling behind. Sergio Ramos started on the bench in the game and only featured in the final minutes. His defensive authority could be seen immediately, as well as his threats upfront and he will be very key on Saturday. In the last two meetings, which have come recently, Spain have not beaten Switzerland.

Switzerland beat Spain in the 2010 World Cup and followed that with a 1-1 draw in a friendly match in 2018, making it two unbeaten against the former world champions. They will need more of this when they get to face Spain in Madrid, as they are bottom of the group, having one point from two matches. It doesn’t look very promising for Switzerland, who let go of the lead against Croatia in the Wednesday friendly match, and went on to lose 2-1. That loss made it three straight winless outings for Switzerland and they have no clean sheet in their last four. They have four wins in their last 12 matches and three of these wins have come against very week opposition – Gibraltar (twice) and Georgia. They reached the semi finals of the inaugural Nations League and to get that far again, the Swiss will need to bag a positive result in their third group game but with just one win in five away matches, that doesn’t look very likely. They have one clean sheet in their last 10 away matches, and that came against low ranking Georgia, which signifies a weakness in defence that they need to work on ahead of the Spain trip. With six losses in their last 10 away matches Switzerland will head to Madrid with odds heavily stacked against them.