Edin Dzeko is still a real threat for Bosnia at the age of 40, and netted the equaliser for his national team against Wales last week as Bosnia went on to qualify for this final round on penalties.

Dzeko netted six goals across his seven matches during qualifying for Bosnia, and has an insane record for his national side with 72 goals across 145 caps (0.49 goals per game). He took 26 shots across his seven qualifying matches (3.93 per 90), seeing nine of those efforts find the target (1.36 per 90) - so Dzeko is clearly Bosnia’s biggest goal threat.

Furthermore, Dzeko has netted six goals across his six starts for Schalke in Bundesliga 2 this season, managing eight shots on target across those starts (1.35 per 90). Bosnia averaged 4.70 shots on target per game during qualifying, and the desperation to reach the World Cup should see them service their experienced forward here. 

Dimarco had a shot on target when Italy triumphed over Northern Ireland last week to book their spot in the final round of qualifying. This particular campaign means a lot to Italy, who have failed to qualify for each of the last two World Cups - putting real pressure on Gennaro Gattuso and his men in a game that Italy are expected to win.

Dimarco will line up as a left wing back for Italy here, the same role he plays for Inter Milan, and loves to get forward. I actually think he’s quite vulnerable defensively, which is probably why he’s always platformed as a wing back, but his willingness to get forward can play to our advantage here.

Dimarco took 16 shots across his seven starts in qualifying for Italy (2.52 per 90), seeing six of those efforts find the target (0.94 per 90). This is a really consistent record for a wing back and shows that Dimarco is given instructions to join the attack as often as he can. As well as this, Dimarco is maintaining an average of 0.73 shots on target per 90 in Serie A this term - resulting in six goals for the wing back.

Calafiori is a wonderful player to watch when he is given licence to get forward, which he is trusted to do by both Mikel Arteta and Gattuso. Calafiori had two shots against Northern Ireland last time out, advancing as Italy’s left centre back in their back three shape. 

This is slightly different to the role that Calafiori is asked to perform at Arsenal, where he plays as a left back, but the runs forward he makes are similar. Calafiori took eight shots across his four starts during Italy’s qualifying campaign (2.00 per 90), managing at least one shot in all four of those games.

If we look at his record for Arsenal, Calafiori has taken 28 shots across his 18 starts in the Premier League (1.73 per 90). There was a brief period in the season where Calafiori ranked as one of Arsenal’s biggest shot threats - highlighting how strong he is when stepping forward into more advanced areas to get shots away.

Italy had to be patient in their 2-0 win over Northern Ireland last week to set up this clash, and I think they will have to wait for the breakthrough here again. Italy racked up 12 corners in that win over Northern Ireland, showing how Italian pressure can lead to a high corner count, as they are not the most clinical side on the international stage.

Bosnia won’t have any issues with sitting deep and soaking up pressure in this clash, knowing that Italy won’t be able to put together wave after wave of attack as their forward options are quite weak. This should lead to Italy having the opportunity to rack up the corner count, as they did last week against Northern Ireland on their way to victory.

Desperation should also kick in at some stage and drive Italy forward if they are struggling to break the deadlock. Bosnia conceded nine corners against Wales last week, and should expect Italy to register at least five corners in this crucial clash.

Bosnia are going to make this as awkward as possible for Italy who are attempting to reach the World Cup after missing out in 2018 and 2022 in the final stages of qualification.

Part of this will be Bosnia being as aggressive as possible when without the ball. Bosnia have committed more fouls than any other country during qualifying (17.7 per game), also picking up more yellow cards than any other side (25).

Bosnia have picked up 2+ cards in eight of their nine qualifying matches, with the exception of a 1-0 home win over San Marino which wasn’t really a contest. 

Turkiye were pretty unfortunate to be drawn into a qualifying group alongside Spain, who obviously topped the group to secure automatic progression to the World Cup.

Turkiye won four of their six matches during qualifying, only dropping points to Spain in the form of a draw and loss. They netted 17 goals across these matches, suggesting that Turkiye have the quality to battle through to the World Cup.

They take on a Kosovo side who have done very well to get this far, but had a pretty easy ride in qualifying with only Switzerland really offering them a threat. Both Sweden and Slovenia as the other sides in that group both failed to win a single game - indicating that Kosovo have got a bit lucky to get this far.

There’s also a big disparity between the sides when it comes to scoring power, Kosovo only scored six goals across their six qualifying matches - which won’t be enough to see off a Türkiye side who have a wealth of attacking talent. 

This is probably the toughest match to call of the final World Cup Qualifiers, but I think it will be entertaining with both sides able to contribute to at least two goals in this clash.

Both sides saw four goals in their semi-final matches, with Czechia having to come from behind to earn a 2-2 draw and see off Ireland and penalties while Denmark had a more straightforward evening in putting four goals past North Macedonia.

Denmark have seen 2+ goals in six of their seven qualifying matches, with the exception of a 0-0 draw with Scotland. Overall, Denmark have seen 27 goals across their seven qualifying matches - working out to an average of 3.85 goals per game.

Czechia have seen 2+ goals in eight of their nine qualifying matches, with the exception of their 0-0 draw against Croatia. This tie could very well go the distance with how closely ranked the teams are in key metrics, but goals look to be a good angle with the result tough to call.

Poland showed plenty of fight to come from behind to see off Albania 2-1 in the semi finals and will be cautiously optimistic of coming through this clash with knowledge of how Sweden have struggled on the international stage over recent years.

Poland had 15 shots to score their two goals against Albania, and have scored in each of their last 15 matches across all competitions. The last team to stop Poland finding the back of the net was Croatia back in 2024, with Poland taking on the likes of Portugal and Netherlands in this period.

Sweden booked their spot in the final via a hat trick from Viktor Gyokeres, but did concede in that game which marked the eighth consecutive game where Sweden have failed to keep a clean sheet.