Both sides have had a very poor start to the Euro 2012 qualifiers and this will be a great chance for them to return to the right track. Both Bulgaria and Switzerland have beaten Wales in their last games, thus recording their first wins of the qualifying campaign.

Bulgaria still struggling

Bulgarian national team have been on the downtrend for quite a while now, with the poor atmosphere surrounding the squad seriously affecting the team’s performances. One of just few star players in the team, Manchester United’s Dimitar Berbatov decided to retire from international football and in all fairness, Bulgaria now don’t have a team capable of making it to one of the big tournaments. After the convincing away defeat to England and home defeat to Montenegro, Bulgaria recorded their first victory of the campaign as they beat sorry Wales under new boss Lothar Matthaus. However, friendly defeat to Serbia and home draw against Estonia proved Bulgaria are still far away from Europe’s top and everything suggests they will have major problems against very good Switzerland side. Seeing that this Bulgaria squad mostly consist from players plying their trade on domestic stage, the hosts face an uphill task against very experienced visitors.

Bolton winger Martin Petrov misses out through suspension, while important midfielder Chavdar Yankov is out through injury.

Switzerland slowly improving

Switzerland have shown a lot of improvement after Otmar Hitzfeld returned to the bench and the mere fact they were the only team that beat Spain at the 2010 World Cup speaks for itself. The Swiss haven’t had the best of starts to the Euro 2012 qualifying campaign, having lost at home to England and away to high-flying Montenegro, but that was clearly a result of the difficult fixture list rather than anything else. Otmar Hitzfeld’s side returned to winning ways as they beat Wales 4:1 at home and they now have a good chance to further close the gap behind the top two sides. With players like Lichtsteiner, Ziegler, Behrami, Inler, Frei and Derdiyok in the side, all of which have a lot of experience playing in the big European leagues, the visitors should clearly have the upper hand over very inexperienced Bulgaria side. Having won five of their last nine away games, the Swiss look like a good bet here.

Johhny Leoni, Valon Behrami and Eren Derdiyok return to the side, but Diego Benaglio and Johan Djourou remain sidelined.

Verdict

Bulgaria have been utterly disappointing of late and they are missing some very important players in Petrov and Yankov. Switzerland, on the other hand, have shown a lot of improvement and considering the quality they possess in the squad, the visitors have got to be considered favourites here.

Our prediction: Switzerland to win with 0:0 Asian handicap

Odds: 1.95 (19/20)

Bookmaker: Victor Chandler

Watch Bulgaria vs Switzerland live stream here. Check this page for the full Live Stream schedule of the Euro 2012 qualifiers.