Andorra v Wales: Dragons won't run riot in easy opener

Gareth Bale is being considered for a striking role in Andorra

Wales shouldn't have any difficulty starting Euro 2016 qualifying with a clean sheet away to Andorra...

Andorra v Wales
Tuesday, 19:45
Live on Sky Sports 5

Match Odds: Andorra 17.5n/a, Wales 1.162/13, The Draw 9.417/2

While the English media ridicule the new European Championship format that enables the top two in each qualifying group and five third-place finishers to progress - using terms like "bloated" and "uncompetitive" - their neighbours can all be found optimistically perusing French phrasebooks.

Scotland, Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland are growing in belief that they can be a part of the 24-team Euro 2016 after the latter pair won away to Hungary and Georgia in their first fixtures and Scotland limited world champions Germany to two goals in Dortmund.

Player for player, Wales have a stronger squad than all three, so they have to be targeting a podium position at least in Group B, though it is the trickiest of all the Home Nations' sextets, completed by Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Israel, Cyprus and Andorra.

Helpfully, they start off against the easiest opponents, facing the Andorra side notorious for losing their last 34 qualifiers, a sequence stretching over nine years. You sense that the likes of Ben Davies, Joe Allen, Aaron Ramsey and Gareth Bale may be just a little too strong for the defeat magnets.

Wales win to nil

Andorra have gone an almost absurd 11 competitive home games without uniting ball with net, and the visitors haven't always been of Russia and Netherlands' quality. The likes of Macedonia, Armenia and Estonia all completed 90 minutes away to the minnows with their sheets nice and clean, as did Moldova in a recent friendly.

Correct Score

The one compliment that Andorra do deserve is that for a nation of such low football expectations, they rarely suffer the humiliation as hosts that you might assume comes as standard. Of their ten guests in Euro 2012 and World Cup 2014 qualifying, only three scored more than twice, with Russia, Republic of Ireland, Netherlands and Turkey among those to be restricted. They all wound up 2-0 victors.

Wales haven't notched more than two goals in a qualifier in a few days short of seven years.

Best Bet: Back Wales to win to nil @ 1.664/6
Other Recommended Bet: Back Wales to win 2-0 @ 5.69/2