We said: Malta 0-2 Italy
Italy were unimpressive as an attacking force in their Euro qualifying opener, but a number of fringe players - such as Gnonto, Grifo and Politano - could now come to the fore against less demanding opponents. Malta may have shown signs of improvement, but denying the Azzurri victory this weekend is a feat beyond their wildest dreams.
Read more.Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Italy win with a probability of 78.99%. A draw had a probability of 14.3% and a win for Malta had a probability of 6.76%.
The most likely scoreline for a Italy win was 0-2 with a probability of 14.27%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-3 (11.84%) and 0-1 (11.46%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (6.74%), while for a Malta win it was 1-0 (2.71%). The actual scoreline of 0-2 was predicted with a 14.3% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted a 0-2 win for Italy in this match.