Belgium v Wales: Head to the Asian Handicap for the best value bet

Belgium are in dire need of a Nations League victory to remain second in the FIFA World Rankings and potentially progress to the finals of this competition. 

Meanwhile, Wales will be staring the prospect of relegation squarely in the face if they fail to take anything from this game after accumulating just one point from their first four fixtures.

Belgium have questions to answer

Although they finished their World Cup qualification in impressive style, Belgium are struggling for consistency. They have won just four of their last 10 internationals, and those victories came against Estonia, Burkina Faso and Poland (twice).

The golden generation of Belgian football appears to be ending and, while they can still call upon prodigious talents such as Kevin De Bruyne and Youri Tielemans, they are yet to win anything tangible. Perhaps their best chance came in the 2021 Nations League finals, but they were well beaten by France and Italy and finished fourth.

With silverware in mind, Belgium, who are 1.42 favourites to win this match, will have one eye on their preparations for the World Cup in November, which is naturally their major target this year. Canada, Morocco and Croatia loom in Qatar, and building a positive head of steam has to be the goal.

Wales playing better than their results

Wales will also be going to Qatar this winter after booking their World Cup place with to a tense 1-0 home victory over Ukraine. Prior to that encounter, they fielded a second-string side that lost against Poland in Wroclaw, a decision that may cost them their place in the top tier of the Nations League.

Indeed, their only win in their last six games came in that aforementioned playoff encounter, in which Gareth Bale, now a regular substitute for LAFC, wrote himself into the history books with the only goal.

It is worth noting that Robert Page’s squad has faced a higher calibre of opposition recently - they lost to Louis van Gaal’s quickly improving Netherlands side twice in June either side of a 1-1 draw with Belgium at home. Youri Tielemans had given the visitors the lead in Cardiff, but it was cancelled out by Brennan Johnson’s strike.

Punching above their weight

Goals appear a formality in this game. Belgium’s two home fixtures in this Nations League group have produced a total of 12 goals and, while that prodigious rate is unlikely to continue, both teams have scored in all four of Wales’ fixtures. Backing both teams to score and over 2.5 goals at 2.25 looks good value and was also a winning bet when these two sides met in World Cup qualification in March 2021.

There is also value in backing Wales in some capacity. These sides are well known to each other - they have played seven times in the last nine years - and Wales have lost just once. Tap into the Asian Handicap market and back Wales +1 at 2.2.

Recommended bets

Back both teams to score and over 2.5 goals @ 2.25
Back Wales +1 on the Asian Handicap @ 2.2