Football Tips

Finland started competitively in qualifying, but have since lost their way a bit, with a 3-1 defeat against Poland last time out opening up a three point gap between Finland and both Poland and the Netherlands.

That being said, Finland still have a chance of qualifying if they can put a run of results together, and have the perfect opportunity to get three points here against a Lithuania side that are yet to win their first game in qualifying.

Lithuania did manage to hold Finland to a 2-2 draw when the sides met a few months ago, but they were very fortunate to get the result, with Finland producing an xG of 2.20, compared to Lithuania’s 0.51.

Finland should have much more control of the game in this meeting as the home side. Lithuania have failed to win either of their two away matches in qualifying so far, failing to find the back of the net in both of these games. 

Netherlands ran out 8-0 winners when these sides faced off in Holland a few months back, and it’s hard to see anything other than a repeat of a convincing win for Ronald Koeman’s side here.

That 8-0 victory stemmed from an xG of 4.52, with Netherlands having 27 shots in the game. Malta may be able to control the scoreline a bit more seeing as they are the home side here, but I’d still expect the Dutch to be more than comfortable in victory, and score a few goals in this encounter.

As well as the eight goals they scored against Malta, Ronald Koeman’s side saw over 2.5 goals in their most recent qualifier as they recorded a 3-2 win away from home against Lithuania.

There are weaknesses in the Dutch backline and Malta could contribute to the scoring themselves, but it'd be no surprise to see the Netherlands put four or five past their opponents here.