Sweden head into their World Cup qualifier with Greece knowing that another three points will keep them in charge of Group B.
However, the home side, currently sitting six points adrift of their next opponents, will come back into contention with victory in Athens.
Match preview
© Reuters
Drawn in a group which saw them reunited with familiar foes Spain, Janne Andersson would have been realistic regarding his team's ambitions of topping Group B.
However, last week's 2-1 victory over the former world champions has put Sweden in a position where they could qualify for the 2022 World Cup before the reverse fixture in Seville.
Only Greece, Kosovo and Georgia stand in their way of pulling off a considerable surprise, but Andersson will stress to his players that they must take one game at a time.
The Blue And Yellow have conceded just one goal during three qualifying fixtures, while a much-changed team edged out Uzbekistan by a 2-1 scoreline on Sunday.
Sweden have now won nine of 11 fixtures since the beginning of 2021, their only reverse being the extra-time defeat to Ukraine in the last 16 of Euro 2020.
Opponents Greece have endured a frustrating start to their World Cup qualifying campaign, failing to build on their shock draw in Spain on matchday one.
John van't Schip has since witnessed his side held to draws against Georgia and Kosovo, the most recent game on Sunday seeing them concede a 92nd-minute equaliser.
Still possessing games in hand on some of the nations above them, Greece will come back into contention if they can halt Sweden's growing momentum.
Greece have posted just two defeats in 15 outings since last September, both of those setbacks coming by a 2-1 scoreline against Austria and Switzerland respectively.
- D
- D
- D
- W
- D
- D
- W
- L
- D
- W
- W
- W
- D
- W
- W
- L
- W
- W
Team News
© Reuters
Despite the disappointment of the last game, Van't Schip will give consideration to sticking with the same Greece XI.
Anastasios Douvikas and Vangelis Pavlidis are expected to retain their roles in attack, leaving Petros Mantalos to occupy a place among the replacements.
Having taken the opportunity to rest players against Uzbekistan, Andersson will likely select the Sweden starting lineup from the Spain fixture.
Jens Cajuste is an option in the centre of the pitch if Andersson wishes to replace either Albin Ekdal or Kristoffer Olsson.
Marcus Danielson will be named among the replacements after serving his one-match suspension.
Greece possible starting lineup:
Vlachodimos; Androutsos, Mavropanos, Tzavellas, Giannoulis, Tsimikas; Bakasetas, Bouchalakis, Siopis; Douvikas, Pavlidis
Sweden possible starting lineup:
Olsen; Krafth, Lindelof, Helander, Augustinsson; Claesson, Olsson, Ekdal, Forsberg; Kulusevski, Isak
We say: Greece 1-2 Sweden
Given the opportunity that is front of them, we do not expect Sweden to have it all their own way over the coming months.
Nevertheless, we are predicting a hard-fought victory for the visitors against opponents who have struggled for wins of late.
Top tip
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 Greece win with a probability of 44.62%. A win for Sweden had a probability of 29.73% and a draw had a probability of 25.6%.
The most likely scoreline for a Greece win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.42%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.09%) and 2-0 (7.78%). The likeliest Sweden win was 0-1 (8.17%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.19%). The actual scoreline of 2-1 was predicted with a 9.1% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Greece would win this match.
