Sunday 15th October, 2023. ko 7:45pm
Cardiff City Stadium.

Live on S4C, Viaplay and BBC Online / iPlayer

Team news

Wales have no new injury concerns since winger Wes Burns was forced to return to his club side Ipswich Town after damaging his shoulder during Wednesday's 4-0 friendly win over Gibraltar.

Wales were already without regular captain Ramsey, who will be out for a minimum of eight to 10 weeks with a ruptured tendon in his knee.

As well as missing Sunday's match against Croatia, Ramsey will be unavailable for the final two matches of Wales' qualifying campaign against Armenia and Turkey in November.

Tottenham forward Brennan Johnson will also be absent against Croatia, though his hamstring injury is not thought to be serious.

Bournemouth defender Chris Mepham is available after recovering from a knock.

Croatia have a long list of injuries, particularly in attacking positions.

Forwards Bruno Petkovic, Mislav Orsic and Andre Kramaric are all ruled out, as is Spurs winger Ivan Perisic.

Match facts

  • Wales have won none of their seven previous matches against Croatia (three draws, four defeats), drawing 1-1 in this European Championship qualifying campaign.
  • Croatia are unbeaten in their two previous away games against Wales, winning a World Cup qualifier 2-1 in March 2013 and drawing 1-1 in October 2019 in a Euros qualifier.
  • Wales lost their last home qualifying game 2-4 against Armenia. They have not lost back-to-back such matches since September 2013 (against Croatia and Serbia in qualifying for the 2014 World Cup), while they last lost consecutive home matches in a European Championship qualifying campaign in March 2011 (against Bulgaria and England).
  • Croatia have won each of their past five away qualifying matches for major tournaments by an aggregate score of 14-1 - their longest winning run in away qualifying matches.
  • Wales have won their past two matches in all competitions, winning 2-0 against Latvia in a European Championship qualifier and 4-0 against Gibraltar in a friendly. They have not won three games in a row since a run of four between November 2019 and September 2020.
  • Croatia had 17 shots against Turkey last time out, their highest total in a game without scoring since a 1-0 loss to Portugal at Euro 2016 (also 17). The last time they failed to score in back-to-back qualifying matches was in September 2015.
  • Three of Wales' four goals in their victory over Gibraltar were headed goals, one scored by Ben Davies and two by Kieffer Moore. Eight of Moore's 12 Wales goals have been headers, accounting for 53% of their headed goals since Moore's debut in September 2019 (eight out of 15).
  • Daniel James assisted two goals in Wales' 4-0 win over Gibraltar, with six of his eight assists for the national team coming for goals scored by Kieffer Moore. Across club and country for Leeds and Wales, James has assisted six goals in his past eight appearances.