Wales will be hoping to confirm their qualification for next summer's Euro 2016 tournament in France in front of their own fans when Israel travel to Cardiff on Sunday.

Both sides come into this match following wins in their first matches of the international break.

Wales

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Chris Coleman's side enter this fixture knowing that a spot in a major competition for the first time since 1958 is all but secured already.

Wales need just two points from their remaining three fixtures to make sure that they finish in the top two in Group B as they head into this match five points clear of Israel, who sit third.

Thursday's win over Cyprus in Nicosia, thanks to a second-half goal from Gareth Bale, keeps the team, which is currently ranked ninth in the world, at the top of the Group B standings, three points clear of Belgium.

Bale has been an integral part of Wales's qualifying campaign, scoring six of their nine goals scored so far, while also picking up two assists. Only Poland's Robert Lewandowski has scored more goals in qualifying, although the Polish side share a group with UEFA newcomers Gibraltar.

Defending has also been vital for Coleman's side. Wales have kept clean sheets in their last four outings, and have five from the campaign in total. It has been 414 minutes since Wayne Hennessey let a goal in. No country has more clean sheets in this qualifying campaign.

The prospect of facing Israel to secure a spot in the tournament bodes well for Wales. When booking a place in the 1958 World Cup, it was a win over Israel in Cardiff that confirmed their qualification. However, there are still matches against Bosnia-Herzegovina and Andorra to come after this outing.

Recent form: DWDWWW

Israel

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Israel come into this fixture knowing that they must close the gap to Belgium if they are to stand a chance of finishing in the top two. They are just two points behind Marc Wilmots's side, and five behind Wales, who top the group.

Eli Guttman's side had an easy run-out against Andorra to prepare for their trip to Cardiff, running up a 4-0 win over the minnows last night. The victory leaves them as the second-highest scorers in the group, having netted five times more than Sunday's opponents.

Israel made a strong start to the qualifying campaign, winning their first three fixtures, including a somewhat surprising 3-0 victory over the Bosnians, who had been one of the favourites to qualify from Group B.

However, their first meeting with Wales, which came back in March, saw their form take a turn for the worse. Two goals from Bale led the visitors to an emphatic 3-0 win, beginning a three-match losing streak for the Israeli side.

Despite their 2015 slump, Israel know that their final fixture of the campaign is against Belgium, so victory in their next two outings against Wales and Cyprus, which will be next month, will give them a chance to climb above Belgium.

Like Wales, Israel have never qualified for the European Championships before, but they have been to the World Cup more recently than Sunday's hosts, failing to progress from the group stage at the 1970 event in Mexico.

Recent form: WWLLLW

Team News

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Wales only arrived back in Cardiff from their trip to Cyprus on Friday afternoon, but there have been no new injury concerns reported from the Welsh camp.

The home side will still be without Joe Allen, who was suspended for the fixture with Cyprus, as he is also ruled out with a hamstring injury for this fixture, while James Chester pulled out of the squad late on, and Joe Ledley remains a doubt after only being fit enough for the bench on Thursday.

Israel have a number of regular players missing from their squad through injury, including Sheran Yeini, who missed the match against Andorra through suspension. Rami Gershon, Omer Damari and Lior Refaelov are also sidelined.

Goalscorers Tomer Hemed and Eran Zahavi both went off early against Andorra, so should be well rested for this fixture, although there may be changes for the visitors, who used some of their younger players for the match against Andorra.

Wales possible starting lineup:
Hennessey, Gunter, Taylor, Richards, Williams, Davies, Edwards, King, Ramsey, Bale, Vokes

Israel possible starting lineup:
Marciano, Melikson, Natcho, Meshumar, Tibi, Dasa, Biton, Zahavi, Ben Haim, Kayal, Hemed

Head To Head

When the sides met in Haifa back in March, it was Wales who came away with a comfortable win, with a brace from Gareth Bale adding to Aaron Ramsey's opening goal.

That was just the third time the two sides had met, with their only previous meetings coming in a playoff to qualify for the 1958 World Cup. Both legs of that tie were won by the Welsh side.

Israel have failed to score a goal in their three previous meetings with this weekend's opponents.

We say: Wales 2-0 Israel

Wales received huge support from their travelling fans in Cyprus, so with a home crowd behind them it is likely to be a daunting atmosphere for the visitors to face. Israel struggled against Wales on home soil, and come up against a side that have not conceded in four matches. It is difficult to see Israel getting anything from this tie.

Written by
Sian Cowper

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