I don't see Latvia as dogged as the odds seem to be and I'll explain why.

Latvia is not a punching bag, they had a very good Uefa Nation League and were promoted to the third division. Although they've lost 4 games, apart from their last game when they were thrashed 5-0 by Croatia, they've played some very decent games. They only lost 1-0 against this Wales team playing away and in the other games they were unfortunate to concede late goals. Against strong Turkey they lost 2-3 at home, conceding the third goal in the 95th minute and against Armenia they conceded 2-1 in the 91st minute. This shows how competitive they are and how dearly they sell defeats.

Wales without Bale are not the team they were when they managed to spring a surprise at the 2016 European Championship. In the Last Nation Cup they managed just 1 point from 6 games and showed how technically they are no longer the same team. This time they're disappointing, they've only managed 1 win in 4 games and are practically out of the fight for qualification. Luton Town captain Tom Lockyer was a last-minute casualty in the Wales squad ahead of the trip to the Baltic.

Daniel James has been left out by manager Page, with Swansea City's Liam Cullen potentially in line for a debut.

So 2 important players are out. Playing away, their last win was almost 2 years ago, which shows how limited they are playing abroad.

Latvia have everything to make this game difficult and I wouldn't be surprised to get a very positive result from this game.

我认为拉脱维亚并不像看起来那么顽强，我会解释为什么。

拉脱维亚不是一个出气筒，他们有一个非常好的欧足联国家联赛，并被提升到第三级别。尽管他们输了4场比赛，除了上一场0 - 5被克罗地亚队击败之外，他们踢了一些非常不错的比赛。他们只在客场0 - 1输给了这支威尔士队，在其他比赛中，他们很不幸在最后时刻失球。对阵强大的土耳其，他们在主场以2比3输球，在第95分钟丢了第三个球;对阵亚美尼亚，他们在第91分钟丢了2比1。这显示了他们的竞争性，以及他们是多么看重失败。

没有贝尔的威尔士队已经不是2016年欧洲杯上出其不意的球队了。在上一届全国杯赛上，他们6场比赛只拿到1分，这表明他们在技术上已经不再是同一支球队了。这次他们令人失望，他们在4场比赛中只取得了1场胜利，实际上已经出局了。卢顿镇队长汤姆·洛克耶是威尔士队在波罗的海之旅前最后一刻的牺牲品。

丹尼尔·詹姆斯已经被主教练佩奇排除在外，而斯旺西的利亚姆·卡伦则有可能首次亮相。

两个重要的参与者出局了。在客场比赛中，他们的最后一场胜利是在两年前，这表明他们在国外的比赛是多么有限。

拉脱维亚拥有让这场比赛变得困难的一切，如果这场比赛取得一个积极的结果，我不会感到惊讶。