Romania v Switzerland: Swiss seek second Euros win for first time

Switzerland will almost certainly claim a place in the knockout phase of the tournament if they can beat Romania at the Parc des Princes on Wednesday.

Getting another win would give them two victories at the same European Championship finals for the first time following their 1-0 defeat of Albania on Saturday.

The Swiss will come up against a Romania team which came close to holding host nation France in the opening match of the tournament.

Only Dimitri Payet's stunning goal a minute from the end stopped them from taking a point and losing 2-1 instead but the home win was merited.

From that perspective, the Romanians will be seeking improvement having had less than 36 per cent of possession at the Stade de France.

New Arsenal signing Granit Xhaka is likely to be a key player for Switzerland having made more passes and had the most passes of anyone in his team against Albania.

Team news

The Switzerland line-up is likely to remain relatively the same against Romania after beating Albania 1-0 in their first Group A match last Saturday.

Meanwhile, attacking midfielder Gabriel Torje will be pushing for a place in the Romania side after his substitute appearance against France at the Stade de France.

Opta stats

The record between Romania and Switzerland is perfectly balanced with five wins each and two draws.

Romania have failed to score more than one goal in each of their last eight matches against Switzerland. The last time they netted more than one was in November 1968 (2-0).

Switzerland's 4-1 win over Romania in the 1994 World Cup is the only previous instance of these teams facing off at the finals stage of a major competition.

Gheorghe Grozav's goal for Romania proved to be the difference between these sides when they last met in a friendly three years ago.

Romania have only won one of their 14 games at the European Championships, the victory coming in June 2000 against England (3-2).

Romania have kept only one clean sheet in their 14 games at the European Championships (0-0 v France in June 2008).

In the opening game against France, Romania conceded as many goals as they did over the whole qualifying campaign for Euro 2016 (2).

Xherdan Shaqiri has had a hand in nine goals in his last eight competitive appearances for Switzerland (4 goals, 5 assists).

Merson's prediction

Switzerland may have got an opening win against Albania but I wasn't particularly impressed with them. On the other hand I thought Romania did quite well against France on the opening night of the tournament. They could have been a goal up after just four minutes and it's a different game if Hugo Lloris doesn't make that save. I'm going for another draw here as I think Switzerland will make sure they don't lose this game. Romania also need at least a draw and if they can get that, they can go into the final group game needing a win to qualify. 

PAUL PREDICTS: 1-1

Betting

Switzerland are Sky Bet's 11/8 favourites for the victory on Wednesday evening, with Romania up against odds of 23/10 while the draw is a 2/1 chance. Switzerland are currently 7/2 to win Group A and just 1/12 to qualify, with Romania are given a 5/6 chance of making the knockout stages.

Haris Seferovic heads the first goalscorer betting at 5/1 while Xherdan Shaqiri is enhanced from 9/2 to 11/2 to score in a Swiss win in Sky Bet's Price Boosts. 

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