Olympics women's football predictions & free betting tips: Swedes can march on

Free football tips, best bets and analysis for Saturday's women's football at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics

Where to watch

Sweden v Australia
BBC red button, 9.30am Saturday

Netherlands v Brazil
BBC red button, midday Saturday

Best bets

Sweden & under 3.5 goals
2pts 6-5 BoyleSports

Draw in Netherlands v Brazil
1pt 5-2BoyleSports

There was talk in America that the Olympic women's football competition would be too easy for the US team, but those theories were rubbished by their shock 3-0 defeat in their opening game against Sweden.

The USWNT have the chance to bounce back against New Zealand but they are 1-25 to get back to winning ways, so while the narrative of their recovery is interesting, the betting on their second match is not.

Much more intriguing is how Sweden react. This is not unfamiliar territory for them as they knocked the USA out of the last Olympics in Rio on penalties, but they should be full of confidence as they take on Australia knowing a win would put them in the quarter-finals.

Expectations have been raised and their win on Wednesday demonstrated the value of being positive, so we should expect to see something similar against the Matildas.

Sweden are unbeaten in 13 matches and Stina Blackstenius, who scored two of the goals against America should be buzzing.

Australia beat New Zealand 2-1 in their opener and while that result is somewhat distorted by their concession of a late goal, this represents a step up.

The pair played out a goalless draw in a friendly last month, but the Swedes should claim three points.

The other notable clash is between the Netherlands and Brazil, both of whom cruised to opening victories in Group - the Dutch beat Zambia 10-3 while Brazil saw off China 5-0.

Both paths into the last eight look to be guaranteed and both teams possess a great goal threat with Arsenal's Vivianne Miedema having already scored four goals for Holland while Marta continues to pull the Brazilian strings.

The last five meetings have all featured at least three goals, but this could prove to be a more cagey affair and, as it would be understandable if both teams already had one eye on the knockout stages, the draw price looks quite generous.

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