Must Win Game for Wales
UEFA World Cup Qualifying Group D has been one of the tightest and has led to the possibility of the second-place team failing to make the playoffs.
As things stand going into the penultimate round of matches, Serbia sit top of the group with 18 points and a win in their match against Austria will see them qualify for the World Cup finals. If they fail to defeat Austria, a win in their final match at home to Georgia will be good enough to send them to Russia.
Realistically, this leaves second place up for grabs for Wales and Republic of Ireland, with Wales making the tough looking trip to play Georgia.
Wales are currently second in the group and have 14 points from their eight games. The problem for the Welsh has not been avoiding defeat, which they have managed in each of their eight group games, it has been maintaining leads.
Trends show Wales have taken the lead in games at home against Serbia and Georgia and in away matches against Austria and Serbia but failed to hold on to their advantage. This has seen them drop 8 points from winning positions, points would have seen them top the group comfortably.
Wales have lost only one of their previous twelve competitive games, which was the 2-0 defeat to Portugal in the semi-final of the European Championship.
Away from home, Wales have lost one of their last nine games and that defeat came at the end of their successful 2016 European Championship qualifying campaign. Wales have scored in all but one of their four away matches in this group and have kept two clean sheets.
This match represents Georgia’s final realistic chance of picking up a win in this World Cup qualifying campaign.
They have 5 points from their eight games and while they have only lost three of those games, they have drawn five and this leaves them out of contention for qualification. Only Moldova sit below Georgia in Group D with 2 points.
However, Georgia have become difficult to beat in recent games and have remained undefeated in their last five. There have been friendly victories over Latvia and St Kitts and Nevis and draws in World Cup qualifying against Moldova, Republic of Ireland and Austria.
So, while Georgia have failed to defeat Moldova they have picked up good draws against Republic of Ireland and Austria, which highlights what a tough team to beat they have become of late.
Team news and Georgia have no suspension or injury concerns ahead of this match. They are expected to start the match with Vladimer Dvalishvili up-front, with support from Spartak Moscow midfielder Jano Ananidze.
The bad news for Wales is the absence of their star man, Gareth Bale who is injured. This is a big blow as a moment of magic from the Real Madrid forward could have been the difference between the teams.
Without Bale in the team, Wales may struggle to break down Georgia in this match and we could see a low scoring draw, which will not be good enough for the Welsh.
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