Paul Higham takes a look at Tuesday's big games in Euro 2020 qualifiers with big guns Belgium, Germany and Italy all expected to do the business.
Recommended bets
2pts Italy to beat Bosnia to nil at 10/11
1pt Turkey to beat Iceland at 7/5
For advised bookmakers and each-way terms, visit our transparent tipping record
Belgium v Scotland
Steve Clarke got off to a winning start by the skin of his teeth with a late, late winner against Cyprus at Hampden – but playing away at the number one side in the world is a completely different story and it could be a huge dose of reality for the new Scotland boss here.
Belgium have won all three games so far by at least two goals and in each of those they’ve netted inside the opening 15 minutes – they’re fast starters and also kings of disposing of the lower-ranked sides in qualifying campaigns.
Clarke is no mug so he’ll set out his side to restrict the damage, and not leave too much space in behind for Hazard and Lukaku to exploit, but dropping deep also leaves them open to Kevin De Bruyne’s shooting boots.
Kevin De Bruyne to score & Belgium to beat Scotland at 9/5
Germany v Estonia
Germany are starting to show signs of life and can make it three wins out of three for this campaign against struggling Estonia. Die Mannschaft have lost just once at home in three years and their last home defeat in Euro qualifiers came almost 12 years ago - while Estonia losing twice to Northern Ireland showed they’re not really able to pose any kind of threat to the hosts.
Resilience is perhaps all Estonia can offer as they don’t usually lose by more than a goal and 12 of their last 13 games on the road have yielded just two goals or fewer. Germany should win with plenty in hand but, in June at the end of the season, perhaps the win is all that matters and against stubborn opposition they could find a flurry of goals hard to come by.
Under 3.5 goals in Germany v Estonia at 11/8
Italy v Bosnia
Italy are flying in Group J with three wins, 11 goals scored and none conceded so far, taking their clean sheet run to five games on the spin, and that record spells trouble for a travelling Bosnia side on a four-game streak without a win on the road.
The Azzurri have been fast starters lately having netted in the opening 15 minutes in three of their last seven home qualifiers, but Bosnia have been equally adept at keeping things tight early on.
Bosnia have failed to score in back-to-back competitive away games and this has the look of an Italian win-to-nil masterclass.
Italy to beat Bosnia to nil at 10/11
Iceland v Turkey
Turkey produced the upset of the competition so far when beating France 2-0 over the weekend, so they’ll be full of confidence when they travel to Iceland with their perfect 3-0 record under their belts.
The hosts are obviously known to be hard to beat but they’re struggling at the moment with just two wins (against Andorra and Albania) in their last 10, conceding two or more seven times during that spell. They’ve won three out of four against Turkey though, with two 3-0 successes to give them confidence.
There is a worry here that Iceland could have Turkey’s number with that recent head-to-head record but given the results and form of the respective sides the price on an away win is too good to turn down.
