⚡ Sunday’s Win Boost (Was 1.67, Now 1.80 on Paddy Power)
🇸🇰🇦🇿 Slovakia to Win (v Azerbaijan)
🇵🇹🏴 Portugal to win (v Scotland)
Andy is back again with his Sunday Win Boost, which as always, is backed with a generous exclusive boost from Paddy Power.
A £10 stake will return £18 if the bet lands, with Slovakia v Azerbaijan getting underway at 17:00, whilst Portugal and Scotland kick off at 19:45.
Using the sign-up link, you can access Sunday’s Win Boost and back this boost with £10 and activate £50 in free bet builders to use across any fixture that takes your fancy.
New Customer offer. Place a min £10 bet on Football on odds of min 1.5 (1/2), get £50 in Free Bet Builders after the qualifying bet has been settled. Rewards valid for 30 days. SMS verification required. Only deposits via cards will qualify (Apple Pay excluded). T&Cs apply. Please Gamble Responsibly.
Slovakia to Win (v Azerbaijan)
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Competition: Nations League
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Kick Off: Sunday 8th September at 17:00
Slovakia certainly caught the eye at Euro 2024, beating Belgium and only being a piece of Jude Bellingham magic away from also defeating England to progress to the quarter-finals. That confidence boosting performance should mean they are targeting top spot in their Nations League group here.
Sweden look to be their main threat to those ambitions, meaning wins over the likes of Azerbaijan are all the more important, particularly at home. Over the previous 10 home internationals, only Portugal and Switzerland have got the better of Slovakia, so they tend to like it on home soil.
Francesco Calzona’s side opened this current Nations League campaign with a 1-0 away success in Estonia, a clash where they had 25 shots and gathered an xGF of 2.08. They will hope to make this game slightly less of a slog than their opener turned out to be, but they won’t be taking Azerbaijan lightly.
That is because the last head-to-head clash in September 2022 went the way of Milli Komanda. However, that should be a timely reminder for Slovakia to go into this all guns blazing, with their strong showing at the Euros further enhancing their mentality heading into these sort of tests.
It would be fair to say Azerbaijan tend to pick up most of their victories against the lesser lights on the international scene, and more often than not at home, so any kind of result here would be something of a statement for the visitors.
Portugal to Win (v Scotland)
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Competition: Nations League
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Kick Off: Sunday 8th September at 19:45
Portugal look to continue their fine run of results in Nations League action when Scotland make the journey to Lisbon on Sunday. The home side began the group phase with a hard-earned 2-1 success versus Croatia on Thursday night, which included a strike from legend Cristiano Ronaldo, becoming the first ever player to net 900 verified career goals in the process. Portugal have only ever lost three matches in this tournament since it started, and also lifted the trophy itself in 2019.
On paper, Croatia should give Portugal the greatest challenge in relation to topping this group, so manager Roberto Martinez will be keen for his side to back up their opening triumph by maintaining the margin and picking up another three points here. The last time they suffered a competitive home defeat was to current European champions Spain back in September 2022.
Scotland went down 3-2 to Poland at Hampden Park in their opening game, in what was a real thriller. They were 2-0 down, only to pull it back to 2-2 and then lose it in the 97th-minute through a Nicola Zalewski penalty. That was a huge blow for Steve Clarke and all his players, and they will now surely be dreading this upcoming clash to a team ranked 40 places above them.
A run of just one victory in their last 13, which came against lowly Gibraltar, is a pretty damning reflection of where they are right now. They’ve had a number of tough opponents in that period, such as England, Spain, France and Netherlands, but lost them all, and Portugal are certainly of that calibre.
Written by Andy Robson
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