Malta - Ukraine predictions and free betting tips [17/10/2023]

On Tuesday, 17th October, in the frame of the Euro-2024 qualifying tournament, Malta's national team will face the Ukrainian national squad. Sergey Rebrov's team overcame North Macedonia with a 2:0 scoreline and is still vying for a berth to Germany. In contrast, the home team finds itself at the very bottom of the tournament table, without any points.

Predicted Line-ups

Malta: Bonello; Attard, S. Borg, Muscat, Pepe, Shaw; Kristensen, Guillaumier, Yankam; J. Mbong, Montebello.
Ukraine: Trubin; Konoplya, Zabarnyi, Matvienko, Mykolenko; Zinchenko, Stepanenko; Zubkov, Sudakov, Mudryk; Dovbyk.

Stadium

The clash will take place in Ta' Qali at the National Stadium.

Malta

Throughout its history, the Maltese national team has never had the fortune to participate in any major competitions, and that won't change this qualifying phase. Moreover, last week the Maltese suffered another defeat in Italy (4:0). Despite having zero points, Malta managed to triumph over Gibraltar in a friendly match (1:0) in September and Luxembourg in June (0:1). It took the "Azzurri" only 22 minutes to go ahead thanks to a spectacular goal from Giacomo Bonaventura; then Domenico Berardi distinguished himself with a brace, and Davide Frattesi came off the bench to complete the rout in Bari. Furthermore, Malta has failed to score in each of their last five official matches while conceding 15 goals. Indeed, the ignominious losing streak in the Euro qualifiers has reached 15 consecutive games since 2019. The Maltese squad includes players who are not well-known in world football. 

Ukraine

The Ukrainian national team is still in contention for a spot in the main Euro contingent, in part due to their draw against the group leaders, England (1:1), in September. However, they also lost to Italy's national team (2:1) in their crucial last September match. Last Saturday, the yellow-blue side triumphed over North Macedonia with a 2:0 scoreline. The guests are equal on points with Italy, who are in 2nd place, although having played a match less. The "Shakhtar" star, Georgiy Sudakov, caught Stole Dimitrievski off guard in the 30th minute, and in added time Oleksandr Karavaev made a strong shot from 40 meters to find the back of the net. It's worth noting that in their last four qualifying away games, Ukraine has scored at least two goals.

Head-to-Head Meetings

In the first leg in June, Ukraine managed to secure a minimal victory with a 1:0 score.

Match Prediction Malta – Ukraine

Should Ukraine fail, they can bid farewell to their Euro hopes. However, it's doubtful that the yellow-blues will slip up in Ta' Qali: Malta is the absolute underdog with zero points. The guests are miles ahead in terms of class and are supposed to win with a comfortable advantage – handicap -1.5.

Total Prediction 

The Maltese team has conceded a whopping 15 goals in six rounds, and Ukrainians have the opportunity to tweak the statistics of goals scored/conceded a bit. I bet on the guests' individual total over 1.5.

Corner Prediction 

The yellow-and-blue will control the initiative and dominate in key indicators, including corners – handicap -2.5.

Yellow Cards Prediction 

Malta's team is significantly outclassed and will be forced to foul more often to disrupt the rhythm of the guests' attacks. I back the red and white to win in terms of yellow cards.

Score Prediction

My bet is on a precise score of 0:2 in the favour of Ukraine.