Belgium recently claimed top spot of Group F at the weekend, meaning that they head into the last four games of qualification ahead of 3rd placed group rivals Sweden and are likely to qualify.
Tuesday night sees the challenge of Baltic nation Estonia come to Stade Roi Baudouin just off the bottom of the table and looking to claim a big scalp.
Key Takeaways
· Estonia are rooted to the foot of the table, ahead of Azerbaijan on goal difference
· Belgium can also claim their position thanks to goal difference, they are level on points with Austria
· A win for Estonia would be their second-ever win over Belgium
A difficult task lies ahead for Estonia and Belgium will want to ensure daylight is between them and any of the chasing pack, ensuring qualification as early as possible and maintain their pole position.
Belgium Form
Domenico Tedesco’s side scraped through their latest game, a deflected goal off Yannick Carrasco meant that they dragged themselves to a 1-0 win in Baku over Azerbaijan and claimed top spot above former leaders Austira.
Belgium gained the first of their 10 points last season with a 3-0 win over Sweden thanks to the prowess in front of goal of Romelu Lukaku, before a nervy 1-1 draw with Austria where Lukaku found the net again, in between those games they beat Germany 3-2 in a friendly to claim recent bragging rights.
They then faced Tuesday’s opponents Estonia, who were swiftly humbled 3-0 with two goals from, you guessed it, Romelu Lukaku and a 90th-minute coup de grace delivered by Jonathan Bakayoko.
Estonia Form
Estonia started off their qualification campaign with a brave outing against Austria losing 2-1 to the Alpine nation with Rauno Sappinen finding the consolation goal.
The draw with Azerbaijan came next and Sappinen found the net once again, giving his nation hope that they can claim points in this group.
Unfortunately, the game against Belgium came next and the 3-0 defeat sapped Estonia's confidence and they were left seething after then shipping 5 goals without reply to Sweden in Talinn on the weekend.
Head-to-Head
Of the previous 9 encounters with these nations, Belgium come away shining, they have won 8 of the fixtures and are on a 5-game winning streak. Estonia managed a very impressive 2-0 win back in 2009 however.
Team News
Belgium’s team boasts vast experience, with Lukaku and Vertonghen both on over 100 caps, but have also elected to call up Jeremy Doku, Arthur Theate and Lois Openda to continue to build their international experience.
Belgium will be without two crucial players for them, Thibaut Courtois between the sticks and captain and playmaking superstar Kevin De Bruyne both are injured and unavailable.
Thomas Haberli made some changes to his squad after their defeat to Sweden, the biggest omission is that their main man in front of goal, the in form Rauno Sappinen is unavailable through injury and will be sorely missed.
Key Players
Belgium have a vast swathe of talent to look at but Lukaku’s qualification form has been outstanding and he is likely to perform again on Tuesday.
Captain Konstantin Vassiljev will make a remarkable 153rd Cap and his experience will be invaluable in keeping his team together when they will be out of possession.
Final Thoughts
Belgium are on a mission and will know that they can put some daylight between themselves and the competition in this game, expect a strong squad to be present and chances for Estonia to be at a premium.
European Championship Qualification