Portugal at Italy 11/17/18 - UEFA Nations League Picks & Predictions

Two teams that are fighting for the top spot of Group 3 of League A in the UEFA Nations League will lock horns on Saturday, when Italy will host Poland. Italy have been struggling to be consistent in recent years, while Portugal have been slightly better. This is going to be a really tough battle between the two sides.

Italy (1-1-1) were in pretty bad shape coming up to the UEFA Nations League, as they won just one of their previous five friendly matches (1-2-2). To be honest, they had to face Argentina, England, France, Netherlands and Saudi Arabia, beating only the latter. Italy played a really anxious match in the UEFA Nations League opener where they had to score a late goal in order to hold out for a 1-1 draw. After that they played for a pretty balanced match against Portugal on the road, where they conceded the only goal at the 48th minute to lose by 0-1. But in their most recent match they scored a late goal against Poland on the road to eventually win by 1-0. Italy are now sitting at the 2nd spot of the group with 4 points, and badly need a win here to stay afloat. Portugal (2-0-0) did great to win the 2016 EURO Cup, but didn’t go a good job in the 2018 World Cup. They were eliminated in the round of 16 after a mediocre run in the competition. But they have looked pretty sharp in their UEFA Nations League debut where they made a solid start beating Italy by a slim 0-1 at home. In their next match they conceded an early goal on the road against Poland but were already winning by 3-1 at the 52nd minute before the final 3-2 win. Portugal are now leading the group with 6 points after 2 matches and even if they lose here they have a final chance to top the group with a win over Poland.