Germany v Sweden

Germany’s World Cup defence got off to a nightmare start as they were beaten 1-0 by Mexico and now face the prospect of a must-win game against Sweden on Saturday.

Germany – Elimination Stage – Group Stage @ 2.90

The Swedes beat South Korea 1-0 in their opener and share top spot in Group F with the Mexicans, meaning anything other than a victory would leave Germany relying on other results ahead of their final group game.

Manager Joachim Low is set to make changes to his Germany starting XI after their ineffective attacking display against El Tricolor.

Borussia Dortmund forward Marco Reus is expected to start after featuring as a second half substitute against Mexico, while Manchester City’s Ilkay Gundogan, Bayer Leverkusen’s Julian Brandt and Bayern Munich new boy Leon Goretzka could also come into Low’s starting line-up.

Reus first goalscorer @ 7.00

Reus will be keen to stake a claim for a regular starting spot going forward and the BVB star is 7.00 to score first or 2.85 to net at anytime.

Germany are 1.52 to claim a win but the Scandinavians are no pushovers and Low’s men will face a battle to break them down.

Sweden have now managed three successive clean sheets after beating South Korea to nil and their backline has been boosted by the return of Manchester United’s Victor Lindelof, who missed their curtain raiser due to illness.

If Lindelof does come into the starting side it may be Leeds United’s Pontus Jansson who makes way in what is likely to be Janne Andersson’s only change.

Sweden made a huge statement in qualifying as they downed Italy over two legs in a play-off to earn a place in Russia and any kind of result against Germany would be massive for the Northern Europeans.

The Swedes haven’t beaten Germany since the World Cup 1958 but they did manage a point against the world champions in qualifying ahead of the 2014 tournament in Brazil.

Under 2.5 goals @ 1.95

The two sides haven’t met since those qualifiers and over the course of those two games 16 goals were scored as they played out a 4-4 draw in Germany before the holders claimed a 5-3 win in Sweden.

Saturday’s meeting may not be such a free scoring contest and this could be a good fixture to back a lack of goals.