Wales v Latvia – Betting Preview
Wales Summary
Wales were able to salvage a late and hugely valuable point with an undeserved injury time leveller against Croatia.
They were 1-0 down from midway through the first half but, drawing deep into their reserves of resilience, the Welsh stayed competitive and was able to score with their first shot on target to seal a point.
As a result, the Dragons morale and confidence is very good.
The atmosphere in the Cardiff stadium will be massively boosted with the now retired Gareth Bale set to give a speech before kick-off.
The former Madrid and Spurs star will be presented with a trophy before kick-off and then make his emotional speech. The crowd knows the importance of winning this game and they will play their part in this contest, likely extra vocal after Bale giving his talk.
Nottingham Forest striker Brendan Johnson is one of those men tasked with filling the void left by Bale, but a knock will see him missing out this game. This is a big loss.
Robert Page will need to send the team out to play on the front foot and defeat a nation they are expected to beat.
With this in mind, an attacking mindset and side is expected. Harry Wilson, Dan James and Aaron Ramsey will all come in and begin in a much more offensive side that faced Croatia.
Page needs the team to break a bad streak. Although drawing with Croatia is a huge and unexpected positive result, it means they now haven’t won in nine games, drawing three and losing six.
Latvia Summary
Latvia’s will be motivated to begin their qualification with a positive result here.
Although they do not fear Wales, the 133rd ranked country would take a draw from this match.
Their last win in a recognised competitive game came back in June 2022 against Liechtenstein.
Latvia have only once before reached the Euros, back in 2004. Should they make it this time then they will need to get the better of Wales in their head to head games, that is why this is a must not lose for them.
The final preparations for the Euro 2024 qualifying campaign saw them drop to Ireland over the weekend. It was a game where they competed well but went down 3-2 in a friendly fixture at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium.
Betting Analysis
Looking at the 1×2 market first. Wales is a big favourite to overcome Latvia, priced @ 1.21 to win.
Latvia may not be a pushover and the draw is @ 6.75, with the away win @ 14.0.
Moving onto the Asian handicap betting for this contest. Wales will begin this game with a high tempo and very well motivated. It will be important for them to score early or when playing their best.
The Wales -1.75 line is not attractive as they do not enjoy being jollies and may just accept any narrow win and move on.
Wales -1.75 is @ 1.85 and Latvia +1.75 is @ 1.97.
Looking at The Under/Over goal betting last of all. The line is set at 2.75, the over is @ 1.90 and the Under is @ 1.86.
