Bale laughs off club as prepares for vital HOW THEY STAND

What Wales need

If Wales beat Azerbaijan, they will qualify automatically if they win against Hungary and Slovakia drop points in either of their remaining games against Croatia and Azerbaijan.

If Wales draw with Azerbaijan, they can still qualify automatically, but they’d need to beat Hungary (claiming a better head-to-head record against them in the process) and hope Slovakia claim no more than two points from their remaining games against Croatia and Azerbaijan.

Wales can’t qualify automatically if they lose to Azerbaijan.

The Red Dragons will also miss out if Slovakia win their remaining two games.

What about the Nations League? To earn a Nations League play-off spot, Wales need one more of Austria, Sweden, Bosnia & Herzegovina or Denmark to qualify automatically given that Ukraine and Russia have already secured their place at next year’s tournament.

This is extremely likely to happen so the Nations League backstop is almost certainly there.

The play-offs take place in March next year.

Upcoming fixtures Saturday: Austria v North Macedonia

Monday: Republic of Ireland v Denmark, Sweden v Faroe Islands, Liechtenstein v Bosnia & Herzegovina

Tuesday: Latvia v Austria for Wales in their crucial double header with Azerbaijan and Hungary.

“We understand how big the games are,” he added.

“My fitness, I’ve done my rehab, done a full week of training.

“Obviously there are two big games and I’m not sure if I’ll play the two whole 90 minutes.

“But I’ll do my best to play as much as I can.”

“I fully understand the position I’m in.

“I’ve done as much as I can in terms of trying to get back as quick as I can.

“I’ve done four weeks’ training and we’ve done 11 v 11 to try and get some match fitness in me.

“I’m as prepared as I can be. “The only thing I can do is give my best, which I always do.”