Portugal v Switzerland: Big prize for familar foes

Portugal v Switzerland betting odds, tips and predictions

Portugal and Switzerland have developed a habit of being knocked out in the last 16 but one of them will claim a place in the World Cup 2022 quarter-finals.

Portugal have failed to reach the last eight since 2006 while it was 1954 when Switzerland last made it that far so this could be a tense affair.

Tuesday’s match at the Lusail Iconic Stadium kicks off at 7pm and is live on ITV.

Swiss warming up

The Swiss produced their best attacking performance of the tournament in Friday’s 3-2 win over Serbia, with 14 of their 26 shots in the group stage coming in that game.

Prior to that they had lost 1-0 to Brazil when they failed to manage a shot on target before Breel Embolo’s early second-half goal proved enough to beat Cameroon by the same scoreline.

Switzerland’s upturn coincided with a first defeat for Portugal against South Korea, but manager Fernando Santos took the opportunity to rest players with qualification already secure.

His most-used 11 have played just 71 per cent of minutes in the group phase, the third-fewest after Brazil and France.

Xherdan Shaqiri!!! 💪

Switzerland take the lead against Serbia 🇨🇭#ITVFootball | #FIFAWorldCup pic.twitter.com/vMRQzOWO9y

— ITV Football (@itvfootball) December 2, 2022

Portugal head into the game as odds-on favourites to win in 90 minutes at 10/11 while Switzerland are the 7/2 underdogs.

The teams know all about each other having met twice in the Nations League in June and three times in the last four years.

On each occasion the home team have come out on top but Portugal’s wins have been more impressive, winning 3-1 and 4-0 before losing 1-0 in Switzerland.

On neutral territory, they look to have the quality to edge it and victory by exactly one goal at 5/2 is the first of our Portugal v Switzerland betting tips.

Embolo threat but Portugal to edge it

Switzerland qualified for the last 16 with a 3-2 victory over Serbia which featured some heated exchanges.

The worry now is how much that game took out of them while Portugal’s key players should be feeling relatively fresh and that could prove decisive.

Looking at the Portugal v Switzerland betting odds, a drawn first half and Portugal to win in 90 minutes is a decent option at 17/5 along with 21/20 for the second half to have the most goals.

Embolo has impressed for Switzerland during the group stage with two goals and is 8/1 to open the scoring in the Portugal v Switzerland betting odds.

Given we expect the Swiss to be beaten though, Embolo to score but end up on the losing team completes our predictions at 12/1.

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All odds and markets are correct as of the date of publication