Sweden will be looking to return to winning ways in Group B when they continue their World Cup 2022 qualification campaign at home to Kosovo on Saturday evening.
Janne Andersson's side are currently second in the section with nine points to show from four matches, while Kosovo occupy fourth, having claimed four points from their first five fixtures.
Match preview
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Sweden will be looking to bounce back from their disappointing defeat to Greece when they continue their World Cup qualification campaign against Kosovo; Andersson's side were searching for their fourth straight victory in Athens last month but were on the wrong end of a 2-1 scoreline.
The Blue and Yellows have still made an encouraging start to their qualification campaign, though, beating Georgia, Kosovo and Spain in their opening three matches to collect nine points.
Sweden are currently second in Group B, three points ahead of third-placed Greece but four points behind Spain; La Roja, though, have played two games more, collecting 13 points from six matches.
Blagult, who were runners-up at the 1958 World Cup, reached the quarter-finals of the 2018 edition of the tournament, while they made the round of 16 at this summer's European Championship.
Sweden will be taking on Kosovo for just the second time in their history, and they recorded a 3-0 victory when the two international sides locked horns in the reverse game back in March.
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Kosovo, meanwhile, will enter the match off the back of a 2-0 defeat to Spain last month, and a total of four points from five games has left Bernard Challandes's side in fourth position in the table.
The visitors have a lot of work to do in order to seriously challenge for qualification, but it is difficult to imagine a scenario where they finish first or second in the group.
Kosovo only picked up one point from their 10 qualification matches for the 2018 World Cup, while they also struggled to compete during their Euro 2020 challenge.
Challandes's side were well beaten by Sweden in the reverse match back in March, but they have picked up four points from their last three games in the section, including a draw against Greece last month, and the underdogs are certainly capable of making this a tricky match for the home side.
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Team News
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Manchester United's Victor Lindelof was late to link up with the Sweden squad for personal reasons, but the centre-back is expected to be named in the starting XI here.
Mattias Johansson, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Isaac Kiese Thelin are all absent through injury, but Alexander Isak is available after a period on the sidelines, and the Real Sociedad forward could be joined through the middle by Dejan Kulusevski.
Sweden boss Andersson has plenty of options in midfield, but Kristoffer Olsson could just get the nod alongside Mattias Svanberg, while Newcastle United's Emil Krafth should feature at right-back.
As for Kosovo, Besar Halimi and Lirim Kastrati are both available after serving suspensions, and the pair are expected to be in the starting XI on Saturday.
Lazio forward Vedat Muriqi is a certainty to start in the final third of the field, while there should also be a spot for Norwich City's Milot Rashica.
Napoli's Amir Rrahmani and Torino's Mergim Vojvoda should both start at the back, meanwhile, and there is certainly quality throughout the squad despite their underdogs status.
Sweden possible starting lineup:
Olsen; Krafth, Lindelof, Danielson, Augustinsson; Claesson, Olsson, Svanberg, Forsberg; Isak, Kulusevski
Kosovo possible starting lineup:
Muric; Hadergjonaj, Rrahmani, Aliti, Vojvoda; Halimi, Dresevic, Loshaj; Kastrati, Muriqi, Rashica
We say: Sweden 2-1 Kosovo
We do not think this will be as comfortable as some are expecting, as Kosovo's squad, and indeed starting XI, will be packed full of talent. That said, Sweden will be desperate to bounce back from their defeat to Greece, and we believe that the home side will have enough to put three points on the board.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Sweden win with a probability of 59.82%. A draw had a probability of 23.5% and a win for Kosovo had a probability of 16.65%.
The most likely scoreline for a Sweden win was 1-0 with a probability of 14.16%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (12.16%) and 2-1 (9.46%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (11.01%), while for a Kosovo win it was 0-1 (6.41%). The actual scoreline of 3-0 was predicted with a 7% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Sweden would win this match.
