After finishing last in League B Group 4, Sweden’s 2022–23 Nations League campaign ended with relegation to the third level of UEFA’s newest competition.
During that agonising stretch, Andersson’s team won just once in six games, and they will be relieved to have a brief respite from high-stakes competition.
The last time the Blue and Yellow were in active competition was against Slovenia on September 27, when Emil Forsberg’s goal in the 42nd minute of a 1-1 draw in the Swedish capital offset Benjamin Sesko’s opening goal.
Christoffer Nyman and Joel Asoro scored goals in each half to help Sweden defeat Scandinavian rival Finland 2-0 on Tuesday. This victory helped Sweden regain its team’s confidence.
Despite experiencing a recent purple patch, ominously for Iceland, Sweden are undefeated in their last seven meetings across all formats dating back to August 2000 – with their previous clash climaxing in a 2-2 draw four years ago.
The team led by Arnar Vidarsson will travel to Portugal with plenty of confidence after winning the Baltic Cup for the first time on November 19 after a thrilling penalty shootout victory over Latvia.
As a result, Iceland became the first visiting nation since the competition’s inception in 1928 to win the four-nation trophy.
After Andri Gudjohnsen salvaged a share of the spoils late in the second half of their match against Estonia on Sunday at the Estadio da Nora, Iceland enters this game with a 1-1 draw under their belts.
Iceland will hope to secure a spirit-boosting victory despite their depressing recent head-to-head record before they travel to the Western Balkans to face Bosnia and Herzegovina in their opening 2024 Euros qualification match on March 23.
1×2 Betting Odds
With both nations still on the footballing road to redemption after recent disappointments, we can envision a tightly-contested affair at the Estadio Algarve which could end in share of the spoils!
Saying that, in the eyes of the market it is Sweden who are the hot favourites! Their market odds stand @ 1.80.
That means Iceland are the underdogs in this with market odds @ 5.00.
The odds that the match will result in a draw stands @ 3.50!
Total goals over/under
The odds that the total number of goals scored will be over 2.5, stands @ 2.35.
While the odds that the total number of goals will be under 2.5, stands @ 1.64.
The market views this as a close game with not many goals scored! But the market also believes that it will be Sweden who come away as the victors!
