Latvia vs Wales: Head to head statistics
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Latvia vs Wales match preview
Following a catastrophic pair of results in June, Wales’ qualification hopes are already hanging by a thread, but failure to win in Rīga would all but end their top two aspirations, even with three fixtures still to play.
The summer international window could hardly have gone any worse for Rob Page’s team, first suffering a shock 4-2 home defeat to Armenia, before being beaten 2-0 by Türkiye in Samsun.
This campaign had started so well for the Dragons, snatching a stoppage time equaliser away to Croatia, before a hard-fought 1-0 victory when Latvia visited Cardiff.
Not though, following Thursday’s goalless friendly draw with Korea Republic, Wales have won just one of their last 13 matches, leading to plenty of doom and gloom amongst the fan base.
In the context of this group, the Dragons are currently fourth, knowing a win here would see them join Croatia and Armenia on seven points; those two teams met in Yerevan in an earlier kick off.
After this, Wales’ remaining fixtures are Croatia (H), Armenia (A) and Türkiye (H), and it’s going to take a vast improvement in results and performances to sneak into the top two spots.
Page’s side are, more or less, guaranteed a play-off place, via the Nations League, but are not looking towards that safety net just yet.
So, are Latvia capable of adding to Wales’ woes?
Well, Dainis Kazakevičs’ side are yet to get off the mark of this campaign, suffering their fourth successive defeat on Friday night, demolished 5-0 by Croatia in Rijeka, their biggest defeat for four years.
This means Latvia have won only three of their last 24 qualification fixtures, surprisingly beating Austria in November 2019, before defeating Gibraltar home and away in 2021.
So, Wales should leave Skonto stadions with all three points, but it certainly won’t be straight-forward.
Latvia team news
Roberts Uldriķis and Artūrs Zjuzins both scored in March’s friendly defeat in Dublin, and this pair are likely to be Latvia’s primary goal threats here too.
Wales team news
Both Kieffer Moore and Joe Morrell are suspended, following red cards in June, while centre-back Tom Lockyer and winger Dan James are out injured.
Rob Page, as he vowed to do pre-match, heavily rotated for Thursday’s friendly against Korea Republic, with Aaron Ramsey amongst those not to feature.
In Moore’s absence, Brennan Johnson and Harry Wilson are likely to lead the attack, while David Brooks is also an option, having fully recovered from Hodgkin lymphoma.
Danny Ward is likely to get the nod in goal, while Wayne Hennessey is three caps short of Gareth Bale’s all-time record.