Poland square off against San Marino on Sunday evening knowing that victory will keep a certain level of pressure on Group I leaders England.
While the visitors are focused on achieving a place in the top two, San Marino again sit in bottom spot of a World Cup qualifying group having lost each of their four fixtures.
Match preview
© Reuters
Having already dropped five points against Hungary and England, Paulo Sousa will acknowledge that his Poland squad are realistically fighting to end their campaign as runners-up to the Three Lions.
With a home game against the former still to come, they are favourites to achieve that target, but Sousa must ensure that complacency is not a factor against the other nations.
A first-half equaliser from Albania on Thursday evening ensured that would not be the case in that particular fixture, Poland eventually prevailing by a 4-1 scoreline in Warsaw.
While Robert Lewandowski netted his 77th goal on the international stage, Sousa would have been more satisfied with other players getting their names on the scoresheet.
The Bayern Munich legend has now turned 33 years of age, leaving his manager with the task of handing experience to other players for matches such as the one on Sunday.
© Reuters
After going six matches without success, Poland should be able to make it back-to-back victories against the minnows of international football.
Draws against Liechtenstein and Gibraltar during the back end of 2020 feel like a distant memory after six more defeats in succession, the latest coming away at Andorra.
Losing 2-0 to a team ranked 156th in the FIFA Rankings does not bode well ahead of welcoming the Euro 2020 participants, and avoiding a heavy defeat would be regarded as an achievement.
Franco Varrella's side have netted just once in 13 fixtures, their solitary goal coming away in Kosovo when they were already 4-0 adrift.
- L
- L
- L
- L
- L
- L
- L
- L
- L
- L
- D
- W
- L
- W
- D
- D
- L
- D
- L
- W
Team News
© Reuters
Sousa could name an entirely different Poland XI to the one which started on Thursday, handing opportunities to the likes of Michal Helik, Jakub Kaminski and Karol Swiderski.
Goalkeeping duo Lukasz Skorupski and Bartlomiej Dragowski are competing for one place between the sticks, while Roma youngster Nicola Zalewski is another player in contention for his debut.
Bartosz Bereszynski will almost certainly play no part of this contest after being withdrawn due to injury against Albania.
Varrella could select the same San Marino players which started the second half against Albania.
That would see defender Michele Cevoli and midfielder Tommaso Zafferini drafted into the starting lineup.
San Marino possible starting lineup:
Benedettini; Battistini, Fabbri, Cevoli, Palazzi; Lunadei, Golinucci; Tomassini, Zafferani, Hirsch; Nanni
Poland possible starting lineup:
Skorupski; Dawidowicz, Piatkowski, Helik, Puchacz; Zalewski, Linetty, Szymanski, Kaminski; Buksa, Swiderski
We say: San Marino 0-4 Poland
Despite the likelihood of players being rested for this contest, Poland should cruise to victory. While the scoreline may not be as wide as it could have been with Lewandowski playing the full match, we still expect a few goals.
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 Poland win with a probability of 60.88%. A draw had a probability of 21.6% and a win for San Marino had a probability of 17.48%.
The most likely scoreline for a Poland win was 0-1 with a probability of 11.11%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-2 (10.72%) and 1-2 (9.92%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (10.27%), while for a San Marino win it was 1-0 (5.33%). The actual scoreline of 1-7 was predicted with a 0.1% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Poland would win this match.
