Sweden vs Kosovo

Sweden will be looking to bridge the gap on the World Cup qualification Group B leaders Spain when they take on lowly Kosovo at Friends Arena.

Although Sweden’s pursuit of their second consecutive World Cup finals appearance suffered a setback last time out, courtesy of a 2-1 away loss to Greece, the hosts can overtake Spain at the top of Group B. Indeed, having won their inaugural three fixtures in the ongoing World Cup qualifying campaign by an aggregate score of 6-1, Janne Andersson’s men can move top of the section by winning their two games in hand at home against Kosovo and Greece. Sweden’s only previous encounter against Kosovo brings back fond memories, as their 3-0 H2H win in the reverse fixture represents their highest-margin triumph in 2021. The ‘Blågult’ have been nothing short of outstanding in 2021, having won nine of their 12 internationals (D2, L1 – 90 mins only). They are one win away from equalling their most victories obtained in a calendar year since 2001.

On the other hand, Kosovo’s 1-0 away victory over Georgia in September remains their solitary success in five matches in Group B (D1, L3). However, they’ve already bettered their result from their only previous World Cup qualifying campaign (D1, L9). When they lose, it tends to be painful, though, as each of their three Group B defeats has yielded a losing margin of 2+ goals. What’s more, each of those three reverses has seen Kosovo lose the first half ‘to nil.’ But it’s worth noting that Bernard Challandes’ men haven’t lost by a three-goal margin in their last eight matches since the abovementioned H2H reverse in March. A lack of firepower up top has seen Kosovo score under 1.5 goals in each of their six competitive away games since the turn of 2020.