Following a tense goalless draw the last time the nations met, Switzerland host World Cup Qualifying Group C rivals Northern Ireland on Saturday evening.

Separated by just one place and three points in a section dominated by Italy, the clash at Stade de Geneve could prove decisive in settling who will take a probable playoff place and stay in with a shot of reaching Qatar.

Match preview

Last month, Northern Ireland goalkeeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell pulled off a penalty save for the third time in a matter of weeks, as Switzerland were held by the hosts in a boisterous Belfast.

The pivotal moment came in the 33rd minute, when a penalty was awarded after Michael Smith collided with Ruben Vargas in the box, but Haris Seferovic's spot-kick was repelled by the Sheffield Wednesday stopper; denying the Swiss a precious three points in their pursuit of the group leaders.

Switzerland themselves needed to ride their luck during a 0-0 draw with Italy in the other fixture of their September double-header, and the resultant two points from two games has diminished their hopes of catching the Azzurri.

Recently-appointed boss Murat Yakin - who succeeded the successful Vladimir Petkovic in the summer - will still be aware that should his side win both of their two games in hand over the European champions, they could go joint-top of the group before the pair tackle each other in November.

With an eminently winnable fixture against Lithuania to come next week, the Euro 2020 quarter-finalists will first turn their attentions to hosting a team whom they dominated ball against and limited to just one shot just a few weeks ago.

Their recent encounters with Northern Ireland have proved particularly tight, though, as the nations have netted just one goal between them in their last three meetings: a crucial, and controversial, Ricardo Rodriguez strike from the spot, which helped the Nati qualify for Russia 2018.

Having grown into the Qatar 2022 qualification campaign, Northern Ireland now know that a win on Saturday would take them level on points with Switzerland; putting them in serious contention to claim second place in Group C.

After suffering a 2-0 defeat to Italy on the opening day, Ian Baraclough's men have since gone unbeaten in the qualifying process - beating rock-bottom Lithuania, plus drawing against Bulgaria and the Swiss.

That run of results - in addition to a friendly win over Estonia - has helped the Green and White Army move on from a previous eight-game winless streak, which was only ended by a 3-0 victory against Malta in May.

Baraclough, however, has a record of only three wins from 16 games to date, as Michael O'Neill's magical feat of turning solid performances into goals and therefore points has proven elusive for his successor so far.

To make his task of producing contenders from limited resources even more challenging, due to injuries, the former Under-21s boss has been forced to make a number of changes to the squad which will travel on to Bulgaria after visiting Switzerland - potentially a decisive blow to their hopes of qualifying.