We said: Estonia 1-0 Malta
Having pushed Estonia all the way in the reverse fixture, Malta will be confident of replicating that performance on Friday. However, Estonia are playing this game with the backup of a game with San Marino still to come, and competing with less pressure should play into their favour.
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 Estonia win with a probability of 38.66%. A win for Malta had a probability of 35.6% and a draw had a probability of 25.7%.
The most likely scoreline for a Estonia win was 1-0 with a probability of 9.23%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.48%) and 2-0 (6.41%). The likeliest Malta win was 0-1 (8.78%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.2%). The actual scoreline of 2-1 was predicted with an 8.5% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted that Estonia would win this match.