UEFA Nations League team news and prediction: Germany vs Switzerland
Germany earned their first UEFA Nations League win of the campaign with a 2-0 victory in Ukraine last time out, while Switzerland will be looking to quickly move on from their 1-0 loss in Spain on Tuesday night.
In the build up to this clash, we have all your need-to-know match info in one place, including when kick off is, where you can watch it, as well as team news, probable XIs and predicted scoreline.
When is kick off?
Tuesday 13th October, 19:45 GMT
Where is the match?
RheinEnergieStadion, Cologne
Where can I watch it?
Sky Sports Football
2020/21 So Far
Germany made a stuttering start to their UEFA Nations League campaign as Jogi Loew persisted with a three-man backline. While the results haven't been to expectations, Germany are unbeaten after three matches, though their 2-0 win over Ukraine was their first victory of the campaign having earned back-to-back 1-1 draws with Spain and Switzerland.
The visitors tonight need to win tonight if they are to avoid relegation to League B. Switzerland foot Group 4 having fallen to defeats to Ukraine and Spain, with their sole point coming against Germany last month. Victory in Cologne, however, would see them move to within one point of Germany ahead of the final round of fixtures next month.
Team News
Suat Serdar and Leroy Sane would likely have both been included in Jogi Loew's Germany squad for this round of international fixtures had the pair been fit, but miss out through injury. Of those to have been called up, however, Loew has no issues with his current crop of players and the main selection dilemma seems to be whether Julian Draxler or Timo Werner starts with Bayern pair Serge Gnabry and Leon Goetzka in attack.
A boost for Switzerland, Xherdan Shaqiri had returned a false-positive Coronavirus test, which saw him miss the 2-1 friendly defeat to Croatia. A second half sub against Spain, the Liverpool man is expected to return to the staring XI tonight. Wolfsburg man Renato Steffen did, though, test positive for COVID-19 prior to the international break and misses out, and it's the same for Manuel Akanji.
Probable XIs
Germany (3412) - Neuer; Gunter, Sule, Ruidger; Klostermann, Kimmich, Kroos, Gosens; Goretzka; Werner, Gnabry
Switzerland (343) - Sommer; Schar, Elvedi, Rodriguez; Widmer, Xhaka, Sow, Benito; Shaqiri, Seferovic, Vargas
Key Battle - Toni Kroos vs Granit Xhaka
Two passing machines will face off to determine who controls the midfield when Germany face Switzerland tonight. Toni Kroos has been exceptional in that regard with an average 85.3 passes per 90 among the best in Group 4. Given the number of passes he makes, too, a pass success rate of 93.4%, that ranking among the top 10 players in this League A group of those to make more than one start, suggests he has the upper hand in this clash.
Granit Xhaka, though, is not to be underestimated. Yes, Switzerland have been poor in their three UEFA Nations League matches, but the Arsenal man is making 73.2 passes per 90 and has returned a pass success rate of 88.7%. 6.3 accurate long balls per 90 ranks highly of all outfielders in Group 4 and given the time and space to pick his pass, Xhaka has the means to ping balls in behind the Germany wing-backs to open up the pitch for Switzerland to stretch the home side tonight.
Prediction: Germany 1-0 Switzerland
