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Belgium have managed to retain their status as the number one ranked side in the world despite exiting the Euros at the quarter-final stage to eventual winners Italy, though they bounced back from that defeat in style on their return this week by putting five past Estonia.
That victory means the Red Devils have now gone W12-D2-L1 of their last 15 outings, though one of those draws did come against the Czech Republic themselves.
This Czech side are certainly no pushovers and also managed to get to the Euro’s quarters, impressively beating Netherlands 2-0 in the last 16 and not allowing them a shot on target that match.
Patrick Schick was a revelation for his country as his five goals in as many games carried them through a tough group, though the star striker is absent from these qualifiers having picked up a red card vs Wales.
The Czech’s came through 1-0 winners over Belarus in their first game of this international break, though that’s the least that was expected from them and without Schick leading the line they may continue to struggle for output.
While Jaroslav Silhavy’s side have now won over half of their last 19 games, only one of those victories (Netherlands) came against a side worthy of note, and we can’t see them causing Belgium too many problems.
Lukaku To Score Anytime
Romelu Lukaku is extending his record as Belgium’s all-time leading goalscorer by the game, with a brace against Estonia taking his tally to 66 for his country.
The striker looks in fine fettle and is in the prime of his career netting nine goals already in 2021, and he’ll be determined to add to that tally here.
Belgium To Win And Under 3.5 Goals
The opening match of the group between these sides ended in a draw, while surprisingly the head-to-head record is completely in the balance too.
Both sides have won three and drawn two over the years, with the four most recent meetings even going the way of the Czechs (W2-D1-L1).
We’d expect that to have little baring here though as the two matches in the last decade have seen the Red Devils go unbeaten, and we’d expect them to get the win here, especially on home soil.
However, we wouldn’t expect a goal-rich thriller here and we’d back the visitors to keep this one slightly close than maybe some might expect.
While Belgium have been known to put on a show and get five or more in a semi-regular basis, they’d scored two or fewer in six of their seven outings prior to this week, while the Czech’s actually have lost by more than a single goal just once since March 2019.
PREDICTIONS:
ROMELU LUKAKU TO SCORE ANYTIME
BELGIUM TO WIN AND UNDER 3.G GOALS
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