Romania have moved up to second in Group I and their quest to reach Euro 2024 continues as they host Kosovo on Tuesday night, with kick-off at 7.45pm. Below we’ve given our insight on where the value lies in this vital international fixture. 

Team news:

Denis Alibec opened the scoring in Romania’s last match and the 32-year-old, who plays for Muaither in Qatar looks set to lead the line again here. Romania were held by Israel at home and they face another tough test in a very evenly matched group. 

Meanwhile, Kosovo’s Vedat Muriqi, currently playing for Mallorca, bagged a brace to rescue a draw against Switzerland last time out. His link-up with former Norwich City forward Milot Rashica, now of Besiktas, should give them an attacking threat here.

Draw

These two can’t seem to escape draws at the minute. It’s the result of a very well-matched group with no major nation in, with Switzerland the top seeds only two points clear of Romania in second, and three ahead of Israel in third. 

Romania are impressively unbeaten in Group I, but they have now drawn their last three consecutive matches. Their 1-1 with Israel followed a 2-2 draw in Switzerland where they rescued a point in injury time, while they also drew 0-0 in Kosovo in the reverse fixture. All steps towards qualification, but only small ones. 

Meanwhile, Kosovo have become draw specialists themselves. Six of their past seven fixtures in all competitions have ended level, while they’ve now drawn four out of five in this qualification group. They are so far winless, with that other match ending in a 2-1 defeat to Belarus, but they are, as they have proved, an incredibly competitive outfit. Another draw here at 9/4 seems the most obvious outcome.

Romania 1-1 Kosovo 

We always fancy a bit of correct score action and it is no different here. Given we believe that this will be a draw based on the evidence above, and neither side has scored three goals in one match this year, we can narrow it down to three results. 0-0, 1-1, or 2-2. 

There’s a decent level of attacking talent on show, so backing the 0-0 doesn’t fill us with confidence. Three of Kosovo’s last six matches have ended 1-1, and given 1-1 is how Romania’s last match finished, this is the result that we will go with. These two are well-matched despite the group table, and expecting both teams to score twice may be asking too much. 

The 11/2 on offer for the 1-1 draw, given what we have seen from both teams so far, is a price we will happily take on.