Malta vs Scotland Predictions, Betting Tips and Preview
Malta have never won a World Cup qualifier at home, with narrow 1-0 wins in defensive showings against Armenia and Estonia their only wins on record.
Scotland won’t want to be the first team to suffer a defeat here. Below is our match preview, prediction and betting tips.
Game: Malta vs Scotland
Venue: Ta’Qali National Stadium
Kick off: Sunday 4th September, 7.45pm
It’s been a long time since Scotland reached a major tournament. It does surprise me that the Scottish always seem to accept failure these days, but perhaps they’re even more used to failure than we are by now. Gordon Strachan will again lead the team through this campaign, despite failing (for me) in the last one.
There are still some promising signs after the Scots really pushed Germany in a 3-2 loss and competed with Poland. They made light work of all of the teams you’d expect them to beat, but they still came fourth and didn’t perform well against Ireland.
This is going to be a very hard game for Malta. They can hope that Scotland can go one step further in letting themselves down, but it probably won’t happen. The hosts did hold Moldova and Estonia to draws so far this year, but a 6-0 loss to a Czech Republic side that often struggle in friendlies show they are a long way off.
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Match Predictions and Betting Tips
The home side are best odds 8/1 with Bet365 to earn a shock win here whilst the draw can be backed at 18/5 with Ladbrokes. If they’re going to get
any kind of result, it would be the latter. Scotland are 4/9 favourites with Betfair but that price continues to rise. It’s a kind price.
The sides have met four times in their history and unsurprisingly Scotland have won all four games. That bares little relevance as the sides haven’t met since 1997. Malta’s last qualifying campaign saw them lose out 1-0 to Italy, Croatia and Bulgaria, so they’re no pushovers in truth.
Scotland did not deal well with tough away trips during their last campaign, losing 1-0 to Georgia and failing to really test Ireland. On the other hand, they pushed Germany and Poland all the way, which suggests Strachan’s men prefer the role of underdogs.
They’re a firm favourite here and expectation is high. It wouldn’t surprise me if the visitors fall flat so our free betting tip is Malta +1AH at best odds of 43/40 with Bet365.
Our correct score prediction here is 1-1 at odds of 15/2 with Betfair, but I’ll be if I can conjour up a goal scorer here. A correct score of 0-0 is also available at odds of 9/1 with Betfair. Our goal scorer bet is ‘NO First Scorer’ at a price of 9/1 with Ladbrokes.
Free Betting Tip
Malta +1AH – 43/40 with Bet365
Correct Score Prediction
1-1 – 15/2 with Betfair OR 0-0 at 9/1 with Betfair
Goal-Scorer Prediction
No First Scorer – 9/1 with Ladbrokes
Click here to find more free football predictions and betting tips from this weeks matches