Friendly – Austria v Sweden
With most sides in action in the newly-formed UEFA Nations League, Austria and Sweden have less pressure on them when they face-off in a friendly international in Vienna.
The two teams should be well known to each other, having faced off in qualifiers for both the 2104 World Cup and the 2016 European Championships.
Home advantage and recent results favour Austria
Austria hold slightly the better record over the course of those four games, winning two, drawing one and suffering only one defeat, with the last meeting of the teams ending 4-1 to the visitors in Sweden in September 2015.
Therefore it is little surprise to see Unsere Burschen at 2.20 to claim victory on Thursday evening, with the visitors to Vienna a more distant 3.40 to secure a win.
Goals on the cards
With no qualification issues on the line, you would expect both coaches to want to see their players express themselves, meaning that goals in the contest appear to be something of a certainty.
Both teams to score at 2.10 certainly has plenty of appeal, while both teams to score and over 2.5 total goals in the game, at 2.70, is also a decent option.
Weighted against that suggestion, bear in mind that Sweden have kept five clean sheets in their last seven games, with three of those blanks coming during their run to the World Cup quarter-finals in the summer.
Austria missed out on the showpiece in Russia earlier this year, but friendly wins in the last 12 months over Uruguay and Germany show that they are not a side to be taken lightly.
Alaba aims to be spot-on
Austria have a man who has enjoyed himself in recent clashes with Sweden, with versatile Bayern Munich star David Alaba having scored in three of the four meetings of the two sides in the last five years.
More intriguingly, all three of those strikes came from the penalty spot, so you may well be tempted to back the hosts at 6.45 to score a penalty kick during the game on Thursday.
Alaba is 3.75 to score at any time and the more advanced role he plays for his country, as opposed to his club, means he is likely to have chances to add to his tally of 12 goals in 63 international appearances.
Granqvist a growing threat
Like Alaba, Sweden skipper Andreas Granqvist has enjoyed recent success from 12 yards, converting penalties against both South Korea and Mexico at the World Cup.
The veteran central defender is 6.50 to score at any time against Austria, while if you are prepared to go for a real long shot, then the rugged stopper is 15.00 to net the opening goal of the game.
Goals from Granqvist were a major boost at the World Cup, with Sweden still coming to terms with the retirement from international football of all-time record goalscorer Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Marcus Berg has struggled to fill the gap left by Zlatan and if you fancy him to score at any time, at 3.75, factor in that he is without a goal in his last nine appearances for the Blagult.
