Wales v Cyprus: Hosts to defy clean-sheet scepticism

Gareth Bale has scored both of Wales' qualifying goals to date

After drawing with Bosnia, Michael Lintorn expects Wales to keep Group B's second-top scorers Cyprus quiet...

Wales v Cyprus
Monday, 19:45
Live on Sky Sports 5

Match Odds: Wales 1.4840/85, Cyprus 9.28/1, The Draw 4.67/2

International tournament qualifying is a bizarre beast in which victories can be disappointing, while draws and even some defeats (see Scotland in Germany last month) have the ability to be uplifting.

Whereas only overcoming Andorra 2-1 in the 81st minute indicated that the hype surrounding Wales' chances of qualifying for Euro 2016 was unwarranted, a 0-0 home draw with Bosnia at the height of an injury crisis was a real source of encouragement.

Because other top-two contenders Belgium and Israel have played just once, the point leaves Wales top of Group B and they now have an opportunity to chalk one up over Bosnia against Cyprus, who enjoyed a shock 2-1 win away to the World Cup participants last month.

Though that was a tremendous result for a nation ranked 85th in the world, they have achieved little before or since to suggest that Chris Coleman and co should be concerned. They ranked bottom of a pretty weak World Cup qualifying group with five points from ten games, losing all five away, and followed their surprise success in Bosnia with a defeat when hosting Israel on Friday.

Wales are unbeaten in four in Cardiff and will severely undermine their 4.03/1-rated prospects of competing at Euro 2016 if they fail to conquer Cyprus at odds of 1.4840/85.

Wales Clean Sheet

One of the Opta statistics about this fixture is that Wales have managed a mere three clean sheets in 21 matches. However, they have conceded once in 180 minutes of action in this current campaign and even that was a sixth-minute penalty in the clash with Andorra.

Cyprus notched three times across their double header with Bosnia and Israel, but there are no prolific international performers in their squad. The best strike rate that anyone has is Efstathios Aloneftis with a goal every 5.9 caps.

They netted only four times in their ten World Cup qualifying outings and were on a calamitous nine-game goalless streak before their recent spurt.

Wales have shut out three of their previous six visitors, with Wayne Hennessey in particularly inspired form against Bosnia.

Best Bet: Back Wales to keep a clean sheet @ 1.845/6