The hosts are currently 20th on the latest FIFA Rankings, while their visitors are in 34th position. This will only be the 7th meeting between these two sides, with the Turks winning 2, four of the games ending in draws and the Swedes winning just 1.
In-form TurkeyThe Turkish fans will be confident of leaving this game with a win, as recent form, as well as head to head against Sweden lies in their favor. The Turks will need all the form going into a tough Euro 2016 group, having been grouped with Spain, Czech Republic and Croatia.
The Crescent Stars, managed by Fatih Terim, are in excellent form, with four wins and one draw in their last five games in all competitions. These wins were against the Netherlands (3-0 on September 6), Czech Republic (0-2 on October 10) and Iceland (1-0 on October 13). All of these three victories where In Euro 2016 qualifying. They also got the better of Qatar in a recent friendly (1-2 on November 13).
The only recent game which the Turks have failed to win was the draw against Greece in their most recent friendly game (1-1 on November 17).
Swedes looking to level things upThe Swedes have won only one of seven meetings against their Turkish counterparts, although four of those games have ended in draws. They will be looking to even the scores with a victory in this game. They have been handed a very tough hand in Euro 2016, having been lumped with current world number 1 Belgium, former winners Italy, as well as the Republic of Ireland.
The Blue Yellow, managed by Erik Hamren, are in good form, with three wins and two draws in their last five games. Two of these wins were in Euro 2016 qualifying, against Moldova (2-0 on October 12), and Denmark (2-1 on November 14). They also defeated Finland in a recent friendly game (0-3 on January 10).
The Scandinavians could only manage to draw their Euro 2016 qualifying match against Denmark (2-2 on November 17), and their friendly match against Estonia (1-1 on January 6).
Wonderkid Hakan Calhanoglu will once again be the creator in chief for the Turkish team. His creativity and eye for a pass might be the difference between a win and a defeat in this encounter. The Swedes are lucky to have a world class striker among their ranks, the one and only Zlatan Ibrahimovich. The Turkish will already know all about the PSG marksman and stopping him will be integral if they are to leave this game with a victory.
These two teams are in similarly good form, so Iām finding it hard to separate them. They seem to like to end their game in draws, and I see this game ending in similar fashion.