Switzerland vs Germany prediction, preview, team news and more | UEFA Nations League 2020-21
Switzerland host Germany in Basel on Sunday night, with both sides looking for their first win of the current UEFA Nations League campaign.
Switzerland lost their first game against Ukraine, after Oleksandr Zinchenko scored a superb winner for Andriy Shevchenko's side.
Germany, on the other hand, were cruelly denied at the death in their opening game against Spain in Stuttgart. Jose Gaya's injury-time equaliser gave Spain a 1-1 draw and left Joachim Low's side waiting for their first-ever win in the Nations League.
Switzerland made the Nations League semi-final in the first edition, and they know that they have to get a result in this game against Germany, to ensure that they don't leave themselves with a mountain to climb.
For the side that loses this game, it is likely that they will leave themselves with a lot of work to do, to finish top of the group, with only the group winners going through to the Nations League semifinal.
Switzerland vs Germany Head-to-Head
The two sides have faced each other five times, with the last meeting coming in 2012. That game, in 2012, was Switzerland's only win. Eren Derdiyok's hat-trick gave the Swiss a 5-3 win in a pre-Euro 2012 friendly in Basel, which is also where this game is set to take place.
The two sides also faced each other in a friendly just before Euro 2008, which Switzerland co-hosted alongside Austria. Germany won that game 4-0 thanks to a brace from Mario Gomez.
Next month, Germany go away to Ukraine before hosting Switzerland. The Swiss, though, have away fixtures in Spain and Germany next month, so they absolutely need a win from this game.
Switzerland vs Germany Team News
Switzerland came into this set of international fixtures without Xherdan Shaqiri, with the Liverpool winger fighting to stay fit, after having missed a bulk of last season with various problems.
Vladimir Petkovic doesn't really have many options in terms of changing the team that was put out against Ukraine. There is a chance that Haris Seferovic will be replaced by Albian Ajeti, but it is likely that Petkovic will stick to the same side.
For Germany, Emre Can started on the right side of a back three, where he struggled against the direct running of Ferran Torres in that game. Ruben Vargas and Breel Embolo are similar to Torres, in terms of how they play, and that means Germany need to change.
Matthias Ginter and Robin Koch are both available, and are accomplished Bundesliga centre-backs, with Ginter likely to have first preference over Koch.
Switzerland vs Germany Predicted XIs
Switzerland (3-4-3): Yann Sommer; Nico Elvedi, Manuel Akanji, Ricardo Rodriguez; Kevin Mbabu, Djibril Sow, Granit Xhaka, Steven Zuber; Breel Embolo, Haris Seferovic, Ruben Vargas
Germany (3-5-2): Kevin Trapp; Matthias Ginter, Niklas Sule, Antonio Rudiger; Thilo Kehrer, Toni Kroos, Ilkay Gundogan, Julian Draxler, Robin Gosens; Leroy Sane, Timo Werner
Switzerland vs Germany Prediction
Germany have got fearsome pace in their front-line in Werner and Sane, and that is going to be difficult for Switzerland to deal with.
Germany did create plenty of chances against Spain, and were denied a few times by David de Gea, who put in a fabulous performance in goal for Spain.
Switzerland won't have done their confidence any good with that loss to Ukraine, and that means we're predicting a German victory in this one.
Predictions: Switzerland 0-2 Germany