Following a weekend that served up some strange results in the Premier League with City prevailing over United (at home) in the Manchester derby, Liverpool being outclassed and beaten by West Ham and Chelsea being held to a draw at home by Burnley, attention is now focused on the Qatar 2022 World Cup qualifiers with European champions, Italy squaring off with Switzerland in an expected thriller and England aiming to qualify for Qatar when they host Albania at Wembley.

Event # 1 – WCQ, England vs Albania

England are on the cusp of securing their place at the 2022 Qatar World Cup, and they will do so with a win over Albania, when both sides clash today (November 12).

England have stuttered recently with draws against Poland and Hungary, but those results will be forgiven if they can secure victory at Wembley. The English currently lead the group, three points ahead of Poland and after getting the better of Albania 2-0 in the reverse fixture, they will be keen on getting a similar result at home. With that said, England have not lost a World Cup qualifying match in their last 29, at home, they have won 12 of their last 13 matches with the only blot being the shock draw against Hungary in their last outing.

Albania still harbour thoughts of qualifying for Qatar 2022, but that will be a tall order to achieve as they have lost to both countries that are above them, Poland, and England. If they can secure two wins from their remaining two group matches, there’s a chance they could sneak their way to Qatar. However, that doesn’t seem likely in this match, facing an England side that they have lost to in each of their previous five meetings, and also unbeaten at home, the omens doesn’t look good for Albania. To make matters worse, in World Cup qualification matches, Albania have lost five of their last 10 matches and have failed to score in four of those games.

KEY STATS

● England – are unbeaten in their last 18 matches in all competitions, their best unbeaten run since going 19 in a row without defeat between November 1965 and November 1966. Incredibly, England have never fallen behind in their five games against Albania, only facing Turkey (11 times), Andorra and Colombia (six times each) more often without trailing for a single minute in their international history.

● Albania – are yet to score a goal on English soil against England, losing 0-5 at Wembley in April 1989 and going down 0-2 in September 2001 at St James’ Park in Newcastle.

● Both sides – England have won all five of their matches against Albania, scoring 14 goals and conceding just once, winning 2-0 earlier this World Cup campaign in Tirana.

The betting tip. England win.

Event # 2 WCQ – Italy vs Switzerland

All eyes will focus squarely on the Stadio Olimpico today (November 12) when Italy and Switzerland clash in their Group C top of the table encounter.

Automatic qualification for the 2022 World Cup finals is at stake and, no doubt, there will be fireworks when the two teams meet in the “Eternal City”, Rome. Italy, the reigning European champions thrashed Lithuania 5-0 in their last World Cup qualifier game but, before that, they played to draws with Bulgaria and current opponents Switzerland. Italy suffered a heart-breaking loss in the UEFA Nations League last month, losing 1-2 to Spain in the semi-finals of that competition, but they did spank Belgium by a similar scoreline four days later to secure third place. Incredibly, Italy had failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, though, and they were eliminated at the group stage of the 2010 and 2014 editions of the tournaments, having struggled to compete with the heavy hitters since famously lifting their fourth World Cup in 2006.

Switzerland, meanwhile, enjoyed an excellent October in terms of World Cup qualification results, firstly, beating Northern Ireland 2-0 and then Lithuania 4-0 in the space of three days to ensure that would be level on points with Italy ahead of this crucial match.

The Swiss enjoyed a relatively good Euro 2020 campaign, reaching the quarter-finals of the competition, brushing aside France in the process, with Spain eventually knocking them out in the last eight via a penalty shootout. The Swiss also reached the knockout round of the 2014 and 2018 World Cups, being eliminated on both occasions in the round of 16, which was also the case in the 2006 edition.

KEY STATS

● Italy – are unbeaten in 33 of their last 34 matches, they are unbeaten in 4 of their last 5 home matches in all competitions and have not lost a game in their qualification campaign so far.

● Switzerland – are unbeaten in 6 of their last 7 matches, unbeaten in 5 of their last 6 away matches, and like Italy, Switzerland are undefeated in their World Cup qualifiers so far.

● Both sides – Switzerland have not beaten Italy in any competition since May 1993, although four of the last five meetings between both sides have ended in draws, including a 0-0 in the reverse fixture back in September.

The betting tip. Draw.

JUSTBET ODDS – England vs Albania

Friday, November 12, 2021

Prediction Odds on Prediction Odds Calculation

ENGLAND TO WIN $1.14 which means a $1000 bet would pay $1,140

ALBANIA TO WIN $21.00 which means a $1000 bet would pay $21,000

MATCH TO DRAW $7.50 which means a $1000 bet would pay $7,500

Odds on the Home Team (England) winning the game 3-0 at full time $5.40 which means that a $1,000 bet would pay $5,400

Odds on the Away Team (Albania) winning the game 1-2 at full time $80.00 which means that a $1,000 bet would pay $80,000

Odds on the game drawing 0-0 at full time $16.00 which means that a $1,000 bet would pay $16,000.

JUSTBET ODDS – Italy vs. Switzerland

Friday, November 12, 2021

Prediction Odds on Prediction Odds Calculation

ITALY TO WIN $1.65 which means a $1000 bet would pay $1,650

SWITZERLAND TO WIN $5.67 which means a $1000 bet would pay $5,670

MATCH TO DRAW $3.80 which means a $1000 bet would pay $3,800

Odds on the Home Team (Italy) winning the game 2-0 at full time $6.60 which means that a $1,000 bet would pay $6,600

Odds on the Away Team (Swiss) winning the game 1-2 at full time $19.00 which means that a $1,000 bet would pay $19,000

Odds on the game drawing 1-1 at full time $7.00 which means that a $1,000 bet would pay $7,000.