Slovakia vs Wales 11/10/19

11 October 2019

Wales face a pivotal fixture in their bid to qualify for Euro 2020, as they travel to the City Arena Trnava to take on Slovakia.

A record of three wins and two losses puts Slovakia in the second place of Group E, one point below toppers Croatia. Interestingly, while both of their failures in the qualifying campaign saw the Falcons draw a blank, each of their successes has seen them score two or more goals. It’s their inability to keep a clean sheet that represents a major setback here, as Slovakia allowed at least one goal in ten of their last 11 games, friendlies included. Also, it’s been ‘all or nothing’ for Pavel Hapal’s side when at home in their last eight competitive home matches (W6, L2). If they do win here, there’s a high probability that they will prevent Wales from scoring, as five of their last six competitive home triumphs saw them beat their rivals to nil.

It is a must-win game for the visitors, who are frantically looking to reduce a three-point gap on their upcoming opponents. The Dragons have endured a mixed start to their qualifying campaign (W2, L2), with both of those losses coming away from home. As a matter of fact, Ryan Giggs’ men have won just 33% of their last nine away games in all competitions (W3, D3, L3), netting one goal or less on seven occasions in that period. Immense problems in the final third certainly trouble the traveling side who failed to score 2+ match goals in ten of their last 11 outings, friendlies included. But, three consecutive victories in competitive H2Hs with Slovakia indicate that Wales can improve on that form here, especially as they scored a total of eight goals across those clashes.