Northern Ireland captain Steven Davis braced for Swiss midfield tussle

Steven Davis says Northern Ireland must get the midfield balance right in Thursday’s World Cup play-off against Switzerland.

Davis will be up against fellow Premier League players Granit Xhaka and Xherdan Shaqiri in the first leg at Windsor Park, live on Sky Sports Main Event from 7pm.

„From seeing some early analysis of them, they’re clearly very comfortable in possession,“ said the Northern Ireland skipper.
„They like to build up from the back and play through the lines.
„It’s going to be a difficult game. If you look at their results in qualifying, they were very unfortunate not to qualify automatically for the World Cup.

„The biggest thing for us is going to be getting that balance right, between pressing and cutting off the lines for them to play through.

„If we can do that, we know we’ve got the quality to hurt them, and there are weaknesses we can exploit.“
Davis will win his 100th cap on Thursday but won’t reflect on the landmark achievement until after their crucial two-legged clash with the Swiss.

„It has kind of crept up on me,“ said the 32-year-old.

„It has been a figure I’ve been aiming to get for the last couple of years but I don’t want to give it too much thought going into this game, with so much riding over the two legs. I want my sole focus on what we’re trying to achieve.

„If I can reflect back on it after the two legs and we’ve qualified for the World Cup, then it’ll be a very special occasion to achieve that landmark in.“Euro Soccer Bonus

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