Azerbaijan vs Wales Predictions

Wales face Azerbaijan in Baku on Saturday evening, as they look to move in on the coveted top two in Group E. Will the hosts, who’re yet to win and are no longer able to qualify, prove to be a thorn in the side of the desperate visitors?

The campaign started off poorly for Azerbaijan and it has very much continued in the same vein. Saturday’s hosts come into match-day seven without a win, while they’ve only drawn one of their six matches.

Winning games has proved to be beyond the Azerbaijanis, but they’ve not struggled to score goals, notching in five of six. Even against the top teams, Azerbaijan have made their presence felt going forward, so they’re likely to be confident of doing well offensively on Saturday; especially as they’re at home, where they’ve netted in three of three.

When this pair met in the reverse fixture, it was Wales who came out on top, but Azerbaijan lost out by just a single goal; on the balance of play, this was perhaps harsh. In terms of clearcut scoring chances, Saturday’s hosts created just as much as the Welsh when the pair met back in September.

Azerbaijan can no longer qualify for EURO 2020 but Wales certainly can. Their chances of doing so have dwindled slightly, as they’ve drawn their last two. As things stands, Ryan Giggs’ men are four points behind Hungary, who’re in second place, though the Welsh have a game in hand. Essentially, a win in this fixture would give them a very good chance of a top-two finish. Anything less and they’re struggling.

In their last away match, Wales drew 1-1 with Slovakia. Overall, they deserved more as they performed well, especially going forward. But, in general, their travelling efforts haven’t been great. Wales are without a win on the road in qualifying, while they’re yet to score more than one goal. They’ll have to do what they’ve not yet done if they’re to keep pace with those challenging for the second qualification spot.

In the betting, ‘Both Teams to Score’ holds plenty of appeal. Wales have scored in all but one of their six qualifiers, as have Azerbaijan. Add in the fact both teams made light work of scoring in the reverse fixture and plumping for both to find the net on Saturday is hard to get away from.

‘Correct Score’ backers are pointed in the direction of a 1-1 draw. Wales are yet to score more than one goal away from home, while Azerbaijan have scored exactly once in each of their three home matches in Group E. Moreover, the pair both created very similar amounts when they met in September, so siding with a score draw stands out as the best option here.