Sweden vs Kosovo prediction, preview, team news and more
Sweden will host Kosovo at Friends Arena in Solna on Friday in the World Cup qualifier 2022.
The Pale yellow, second only to the favorites Spain in Group B, wants to take another step closer to securing its place in the Qatar exhibition.
With three wins in four matches, the Nordics have nine points in the bag, four fewer than La Roja. However, they have two matches in hand over the 2010 world champions.
Kosovo, meanwhile, is only participating in its second ever World Cup qualifier and has already collected more points (4) than last time (1).
This is mainly due to their victory over Georgia, a historic moment in the small history of the Balkans. Vedat Muriqi scored the only goal for his first ever victory in a World Cup qualifier.
Sweden vs. Kosovo Head-To-Head
There have only been two clashes between the sides before, with Sweden being the best on both occasions.
The first was a narrow 1-0 friendly victory in 2020 while Pale yellow then saw Kosovo 3-0 in the reverse match last month in the qualifiers.
Sweden Form Guide (all competitions): LWWLW
Kosovo Form Guide (all competitions): LDWWL
Sweden vs Kosovo Team News
Sweden
Despite their fantastic 2-1 loss to Greece last month, it is unlikely that coach Janne Andersson will do much with his team line-up.
This means that Dejan Kulusevski and Aleksander Isak will continue in their two-part attack, although Robin Quaison is also a good alternative.
Victor Claesson and Emil Forsberg will be in the wings 4-4-2 with Kristoffer Olsson and Albin Elkdal as central midfielders.
But Pale yellow received a blow earlier this week when returning hero Zlatan Ibrahimovic was ruled out with an injury. Coventry City star Viktor Gyokeres comes in as a replacement.
Alexander Milosevic has been called in to replace the injured Isaac Kiese Thelin. Mattias Johansson is also injured and Daniel Sundgren will be his replacement
Damaged: Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Isaac Kiese Thelin, Mattias Johansson
Suspended: No
Unavailable: No
Kosovo
Vitesse midfielder Toni Domgjoni was declared eligible to represent Kosovo, so manager Bernard Challandeshas called him. He would lose his first international cap.
Vedat Muriqi and Milot Rashica are expected to lead the line again in a 4-4-2 with Ibrahim Dresdevic pulling the strings from midfield.
Lirim Kastrati is out due to injury.
Damaged: Lirim Kastrati
Suspended: No
Unavailable: No
Sweden vs Kosovo Predicted XI
Sweden (4-4-2): Robin Olsen; Emil Krafth, Victor Lindelof, Marcus Danielson, Ludwig Augustinsson; Viktor Claesson, Kristoffer Olsson, Mattias Svanberg, Emil Forsberg; Aleksandar Isak, Dejan Kulusevski.
Kosovo (4-4-2): Arijanet Muric; Florent Hadergjonaj, Amir Rrahmani, Fidan Aliti, Mërgim Vojvoda; Elbasan Rashani, Florian Loshaj, Ibrahim Drešević, Zymer Bytyqi; Vedat Muriqi, Milot Rashica.
Sweden vs Kosovo prediction
Considering the quality and experience in their ranks, Sweden are the favorites to win the competition. But if their loss to Greece is something to go by, then nothing is a given.
Kosovo, which did not score against Sweden in any of its previous clashes, has struggled with attacking shortcomings in general during the qualifying campaign.
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It can make Sweden’s task easier because they boast the strongest back line in the group with only three goals conceded.
Prediction: Sweden 2-0 Kosovo