Page Boys Seek Confidence Boost

Poland v Wales betting tips; football; Nations League

Nations League preview: Poland v Wales betting tips

Robert Page is preparing for the biggest game of his short spell in charge of his country – but that will have to wait as we pick out some Poland v Wales betting tips.

The Welsh are one win away from taking their place at a World Cup for the just the second time – their only other adventure was in 1958 – but before facing Scotland or Ukraine in the play-off final, the Nations League campaign kicks off with a trip to Wroclaw.

The Tarczynski Arena is the venue for this one which kicks off at 5pm on Wednesday June 1 and will be shown live on S4C and Premier Sports.

Wales know how to win it

Wales’ most recent memories of the Nations League are all happy after they finished top of Group B4 ahead of Finland, Ireland and Bulgaria to seal promotion and a place among the A-list this time around.

They won five out of six in 2020-21 with a 0-0 draw in Dublin denying them a 100 per cent record.

Poland’s run that term was less impressive but certainly more predictable.

Gareth Bale, Poland v Wales betting tips; Nations League

They finished third in a section containing Italy, Holland and Bosnia and Herzegovina with their two wins coming against the boys from the Balkans.

They then flopped at last summer’s Euros in a group with Spain, Slovakia and Sweden but there has been an upturn in form since.

They finished second to England while trying to qualify for the World Cup but reached Qatar after beating Sweden in the play-off final.

Czeslaw Michniewicz’s side have won six and drawn two of nine games since last summer with their only defeat coming at home to Hungary, when they couldn’t be caught in the race behind the Three Lions.

In the same timeframe, Wales have won four and drawn five but they go into this as underdogs at 4/1 with the hosts 4/5 and the draw 12/5 in Poland v Wales betting tips.

Bale and Lewandowski lead by example

Poland’s captain and all-time leading marksman Robert Lewandowski, as always, heads the scorer markets at 15/8 for the opener, 3/4 at any time and 7/2 for two or more.

He has just plundered 50 goals in 46 games for Bayern Munich to land an eighth consecutive Bundesliga medal – his 10th overall – and has six goals in seven internationals in 2021-22.

Once again, his red-hot form has seen him linked with a move to Barcelona but Gareth Bale may have a few words of warning about the grass not always being greener in La Liga.

Poland v Wales betting tips; football; Nations League

Like Lewandowski, Bale is his country’s captain and top scorer and has a barrowload of honours, including five Champions League titles.

He was an unused substitute, again, in Saturday’s final win over Liverpool and it has been an unhappy marriage for some time for Bale at the Bernabeu.

He has played just 290 minutes of club football all season and has started just once for the Spanish giants since last August.

There is rarely rust when he pulls on the Wales jersey, though, and Bale helped himself to a hat-trick in a 3-2 win in Belarus last September and his double downed Austria 2-1 in March to book their spot in the World Cup play-off final.

He is 11/2 for the opener and 12/5 at any time but if Page decides to hold him back for Sunday, Kieffer Moore is 7/1 and 3/1 in Poland v Wales betting tips.

Moore missed the Austria game through injury but has an impressive haul of eight in 24 for his country and finished the domestic season with four goals in three games as Bournemouth returned to the Premier League.

Honours even looks a decent bet

Wales haven’t been given much chance of reaching next summer’s Nations League finals and are 14/1 outsiders to sit top of the pile after the six games with Poland 10/1, Holland 5/4 and Belgium 10/11.

But strange things can happen in international football – Wales reached the semis of Euro 2016 after all, topping their group ahead of England and beating the much-fancied Belgians in the last eight.

Don’t forget, these games offer another route to Euro 2024 and Wales will want to go into Sunday’s World Cup showdown on the back of a confidence-boosting result.

Page has drawn (8) almost as many games as he’s won (9) since taking charge of Wales – he’s lost just four.

A 2-2 share of the spoils in Poland is 16/1, a 1-1 stalemate is 11/2 while all square at half-time and full-time is 18/5 in Poland v Wales betting tips.

Poland v Wales team news

June is a busy month with the Nations League and World Cup play-off and Page could decide to shuffle his pack and rest big names for the first of five games in the space of a fortnight.

Ipswich star Wes Burns will be hoping to play some part.

Michniewicz has similar concerns with four games coming up including one against Belgium and two meetings with Holland.

View the latest Poland v Wales odds

All odds and markets correct as of date of publication