The first of three European Championship matches taking place on Saturday comes from Group A as Wales and Switzerland open up their campaigns in Baku, Azerbaijan
Group A Betting Update
Italy open up their tournament against Turkey a day before this game takes place and you can read our preview here. Shop around for the best prices but as a guide Italy are the hot favourites to top this quartet at around 8/15 with Turkey and Switzerland both available at at least 9/2 and Wales are trading at around 9/1. To make it out of the group Switzerland are 4/7 and Wales can be backed at around even money.
Wales
In qualifying for these finals Wales finished as runners up to Croatia, winning 4, drawing 2 and losing 2 of their matches. They were 3 points behind Croatia and 1 in front of Slovakia and 2 better off than Hungary (who are also both at these finals after making it through the play offs) whilst Azerbaijan were the also rans. Wales were unbeaten at home with 3 wins and a draw (with Croatia) but they did lose in Croatia and also in Hungary. Wales scored 10 goals and conceded 6 in a series of pretty tight matches.
Wales World Cup 2022 qualifying campaign started with a 3-1 defeat in Belgium followed by a 1-0 home win over Czech Republic.
In a couple of recent warm ups Wales lost 3-0 to France and drew 0-0 with Albania.
Wales' odds to win the tournament are around 150/1
Switzerland
Switzerland topped their qualification group 1 point clear of Denmark. They finished 4 points better off than the Rep of Ireland with Georgia and Gibraltar never threatening. The Swiss won 5 of their 8 group qualifiers with the sole defeat coming in Denmark (1-0) and they scored 19 goals and conceded 6.
World Cup 2022 qualifying has also started well with back to back wins in Bulgaria (3-1) and at home to Lithuania (1-0).
The most notable recent friendly matches saw Switzerland beat Finland (3-2) and USA (2-1)
In the outright betting to win the tournament Switzerland are trading at around 66/1
The Betting
Wales are trading at around 5/2 to win the game with the draw at 2/1 and Switzerland can be backed at around 5/4
A game of 3 goals or more is priced at 18/10 and it's 13/10 for both teams to score.
Note, odds are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
The Verdict:
Winning your first match in what (Italy aside) looks a tight group would be a huge plus but losing would be a disaster with Group A favourites Italy still to face in Rome for both sides.
This looks set to be really tight in my book and I'm thinking no more than 1 goal in total.
Bets: Total match goals under 1.5 at 14/10
A 100% Welcome bonus up to R10 000 is available for all new customers!
Note, odds are correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
GFTG Newsletter
Subscribe to our free weekly betting mailer which will include our best and value bets below.
