Ukraine v Sweden

The final match of the first round of group fixtures features co hosts Ukraine and the only team to automatically qualify without winning their group Sweden.

Ukraine is usually a tough place to go but the fear factor seems to have decreased in recent years with Ukraine perhaps declining as a footballing force. Sweden qualified for Euro 2012 as best runners up and their win over Holland in the final match shows they are able to beat the best.

Ukraine v Sweden Match Odds

Betting on the result of each match is usually the most popular market, with this being a close game decent odds are available on all outcomes.

Ukraine v Sweden

Full Time Result

	Odds	Bookie
Ukraine	2.40
Draw	3.25
Sweden	3.20

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Head To Head Record

Games Played	Ukraine Wins	Draws	Sweden Wins
3	1	1	1

Recent Meetings

Date	Competition/Venue	Team	Result	Team
01/06/2008	Friendly/Solna	Sweden	0:1 (0:0)	Ukraine
09/02/2011	Friendly/Nicosia	Sweden	1:1 (1:1)	Ukraine
10/08/2011	Friendly/Kharkov	Ukraine	0:1 (0:0)	Sweden

BACK FRANCE TO DRAW WITH ENGLAND

Sweden beat Ukraine 1-0 in a friendly in August 2011 and although friendlies aren't always the most reliable form guide, they are all we have for Ukraine given their automatic qualification as hosts. Therefore Ukraine should be taking friendlies more seriously than Sweden with that being their only source of football so to lose 1-0 at home has to go down as a disappointing result. It may not be that much of a surprise though, Ukraine may be often be strong at home but at the time of writing they are 37 places below Sweden in the FIFA rankings suggesting they are nowhere near as good as Sweden.

Ukraine v Sweden Asian Handicap Odds

Asian Handicap is available on all games and offers slight twist on match betting, one team is usually given a lead to level the playing field.

Ukraine v Sweden

Asian Hcap

	Odds	Bookie
Ukraine -0.25	2.02
Sweden 0.25	1.85

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BACK SWEDEN +0.25

Sweden are value odds to beat Ukraine in this match and as such it looks worth taking Sweden +0.25 in the asian handicap. This is a very nice price for an asian handicap bet in a game in which we fancy them to win without the need for any help from the handicap. Sweden have shown more than enough in recent years to suggest they can overcome Ukraine in this match despite the hosts' perceived advantage so take Sweden with their narrow asian handicap advantage as a good bet in this match.

Ukraine v Sweden Goals Odds

A look at how many goals are likely to go in and the best bets surrounding those goals.

Ukraine v Sweden

Total Goals

	Odds	Bookie
Over 2.5	2.30
Under 2.5	1.60

Correct Score

	Odds	Bookie
Draw #1-1	6.00
Ukraine #1-0	6.50
Draw #0-0	8.00
Sweden #1-0	8.00

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Ukraine Recent Friendly Results

Date	Home Team	Result	Away Team
11/10/11	Estonia	0-2 (0-1)	Ukraine
11/11/11	Ukraine	3-3 (3-1)	Germany
15/11/11	Ukraine	2-1 (1-0)	Austria
29/02/12	Israel	2-3 (0-2)	Ukraine
28/05/12	Ukraine	v	Estonia
01/06/12	Austria	v	Ukraine

Sweden Recent Competitive Results

Date	Home Team	Result	Away Team
03/06/2011	Moldova	1-4 (0-2)	Sweden
07/06/2011	Sweden	5-0 (3-0)	Finland
02/09/2011	Hungary	2-1 (1-0)	Sweden
06/09/2011	San Marino	0-5 (0-0)	Sweden
07/10/2011	Finland	1-2 (0-1)	Sweden
11/10/2011	Sweden	3-2 (1-1)	Holland

BACK A 2-1 WIN FOR SWEDEN AND OVER 2.5 GOALS

The friendly match between these teams may have only produced one goal but Sweden's competitive matches have tended to produce more goals than their friendly results. In qualifying for Euro 2012 Sweden averaged 3.1 goals in each match whilst conceding an average of 1.1 goals per match. These scoring and conceding tendencies meant that a huge nine out of ten Sweden qualifying matches contained over 2.5 goals, suggesting this is a great candidate for over 2.5 goals. Sweden only kept four clean sheets in qualifying and this should be a very tough game for them so it is easy to see Ukraine scoring at home but no side kept a clean sheet against Sweden in qualifying and Sweden scored at least two goals in eight of their ten games, suggesting that Sweden will not only score once but probably twice against Ukraine.

Ukraine v Sweden Player Betting

A look at all the best bets that involve the players from Ukraine and Sweden, the most popular of which are the goalscorer odds.

Ukraine v Sweden Goalscorer Stats

Player	Games (Sub)	Goals	Games Scored In	First Goals	Last Goals	Hat Tricks	Pens Scored
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Swe)	7 (1)	5	2	1	0	1	0
Sebastian Larsson (Swe)	8 (2)	3	3	1	0	0	1
Kim Kallstrom (Swe)	8 (2)	3	3	3	0	0	0
Christian Wilhelmsson (Swe)	3 (1)	3	2	0	1	0	0
John Elmander (Swe)	9 (1)	2	1	0	0	0	0
Ola Toivonen (Swe)	7 (2)	2	2	1	1	0	0
Pontus Wernbloom (Swe)	4 (4)	2	1	1	1	0	0
Andreas Granqvist (Swe)	4 (1)	2	2	0	1	0	0
Martin Olsson (Swe)	4	2	2	0	0	0	0

Ukraine v Sweden Bookings Stats

Below are all the players who were booked more than once or sent off during qualfying.

Player	Games (Sub)	Yellow Cards	Red Cards
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Swe)	7 (1)	2	0
Ola Toivonen (Swe)	7 (2)	2	0
Olof Mellberg (Swe)	6	0	1

Ukraine v Sweden Team News

Team news for Ukraine and Sweden will be added nearer to kick off.

BACK KIM KALLSTROM TO SCORE FIRST AND SWEDEN TO SCORE THE LAST GOAL OF THE MATCH

With both teams deemed likely to score in this match both teams are capable of scoring the first goal but one player whose ability to score the first goal of the match stands out is Kim Kallstrom. The Swedish midfielder scored three goals in qualifying which isn't an amzing record but all three of his goals were the first goals of the game, showing he starts the games well and is probably better value to get the first goal than to just score anytime. No other Swedish player even scored two first goals in qualifying. Sweden were also much more active in the second half of their games in front of goal, they scored 11 first half goals and 20 second half goals. Their tendency to score in the second half means they are good value to be the last team to score in this match, especially as we expect them to score more goals than Ukraine.

Ukraine v Sweden Half Time Odds

The half time betting markets allow you to bet on what the result will be at half time, either on its own or together with the full time result. This can help to maximise profit from a game when you have studied the form carefully.

Ukraine v Sweden

Half Time Result

	Odds	Bookie
Draw	2.00
Ukraine	3.10
Sweden	4.00

Half Time / Full Time

	Odds	Bookie
Ukraine - Ukraine	4.33
Draw - Draw	4.80
Draw - Ukraine	5.50
Sweden - Sweden	5.50

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Team	Games	HT Wins	HT Draws	HT Losses	1st Half Goals	2nd Half Goals
Sweden	10	5	3	2	11	20

BACK DRAW/SWEDEN IN THE HALF TIME/FULL TIME BETTING

This might not be the best market to get invovled in for this match and there are many possible outcomes but slight preference is for a draw at half time before Sweden win at full time. We have predicted a close match in which Sweden triumph and the fact the draw at half time would cover the game being 0-0 or 1-1, which are both probably scorelines at half time, alongside the fact that Sweden were only winning half their qualifiers at home (against mostly weaker opposition than Ukraine) suggests that this game might not be won until the second half.

Ukraine v Sweden Best Bet

Sweden are a big enough price in this match simply to be backed to win against Ukraine. Sweden didn't even play star man Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the friendly win against Ukraine less than a year ago and there are more reasons for thinking Sweden have more improvement in them from that fixture than the co hosts do.