Northern Ireland have gradually made themselves a team that cannot be disrespected and they may be able see out the Swiss in this first leg of their world cup qualifiers.
There were many who believed their performance at the last Euros was a fluke but Michael O’Neil’s side has proved them wrong as they are on the brink of qualifying for their second successive tournament.
They saw off Czech Republic to finish second behind Germany in their group impressively conceding six goals in 10 games; not to forget that five of those goals were against Germany. The other goal came in their 1-0 loss to Norway when they had already secured second spot.
Switzerland were very unfortunate not to qualify directly for the World Cup after winning 9 of their 10 qualifying games.
They were neck and neck with Portugal in the qualifying series with both teams winning over each other 2-0 on home turf but they missed out on an automatic ticket because of goals difference with Portugal scoring more goals against opponents such as Latvia and Andorra.
These sides build their campaign on solid defence and that could see this game end in a low scoring encounter.
Switzerland has won one of their last four meetings together losing twice to the Northern Irish men.
Results of each team’s last 5 matches across all leagues and competitions
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