Ashley Williams believes that Gareth Bale can fire Wales (6/1 in the match betting) to success in the Euro 2012 qualifier against Switzerland (1/2 favourites to win, 3/1 the draw) in Basel on Tuesday night.
Wales have yet to pick up a point in their qualifying campaign to date, losing away at Montenegro and at home to Bulgaria, both 1-0, and currently prop the table – along with tonight’s opponents.
The Swiss have also lost both of their opening group games, 3-1 at home to England and 1-0 away at Montenegro, and defeat for either side will seriously harm their chances of even finishing second.
Wales captain Williams, who is hoping to shake off an ankle injury, concedes that Ottmar Hitzfeld’s side may well dominate large parts of the game, but he believes that Bale (7/2 to score at anytime) will provide plenty of attacking threat.
“Everyone knows how good a player he is,” said Williams.
“He’s probably going to find it tough when he plays for Wales, especially if we don’t have Craig Bellamy and Aaron Ramsey playing.
“He’s our biggest attacking threat and teams are going to pay special attention to him.
“But I think he’s a good enough player to deal with that.
“They will have a lot of the ball and hopefully we can get it to him on the break and let him do his stuff.
“I think he really gave it a go against Bulgaria, he did make things happen, and if he plays in an advanced role, that’s the way he plays.”
The 1-0 defeat in Montenegro last month saw John Toshack end his six-year reign as the Wales (33/1 to qualify for Euro 2012) boss, with Brian Flynn taking over the senior side on a temporary basis following an impressive spell in charge of the Under-21s.
Flynn is looking to use the two games he is leading the side to make a case for a permanent role, although he did his cause no favours with a 1-0 defeat to Bulgaria on Friday.
However, Flynn has not been helped by a whole host of injuries to his squad which will leave him without 12 players for tonight’s game and Blackpool midfielder David Vaughan insists all the players will be doing their best for the manager.
“No one wants to let him [Flynn] down and hopefully he will get the job, regardless of the results, if we play well,” said Vaughan.
“Hopefully we can do the job for him.
“We have only had a few days’ training with him but if he is around long term I think you will see the benefits in the performances.”
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