Ireland to progress in Slovakia

Stephen Kenny’s Republic of Ireland go to Slovakia on Thursday evening in their bid to quality for Euro 2021. The winners of this tie will take on either Bosnia and Herzegovina or Northern Ireland in the final qualifying round, an all Irish battle would be brilliant viewing for a neutral. Ireland fared very disappointingly in their two fixtures post lockdown in the Nations League, drawing 1-1 in Bulgaria before going down 1-0 at home to a Finland side who have already booked their place at next summer’s tournament. Slovakia are narrow favourites to progress having produced better recent results, but there is a lot more at stake here and the Irish will leave everything on the pitch.

Background

The hosts have found the net in all of those last seven matches, but are particularly susceptible later on in the piece, 12 of the last 14 goals they have ceded have come in the second period with their last seven affairs bringing under 1.5 first half goals. Ireland have been even less clinical in front of goal; they have only scored in the first period once in their last eight encounters. This could be dour, each of the Irish’s last 12 competitive matches have seen under 2.5 goals.

Ones to watch

Strong foundations are crucial to the Irish machine and John Egan and Shane Duffy are an enormous part of that. Duffy, who is currently on loan at Celtic from Brighton and Hove Albion, is the skipper and scored the nations last goal in the Bulgaria draw. They will have their hands full with in form attacker Robert Bozenik of Feyenoord but can also set the tone for a what would be a huge scalp. Even without the presence of fans, home advantage will still count for a lot considering the sheer distance of travelling and quick turnaround that sees Ireland take on Wales at the weekend.

Blunt attack

The number nine position is very much up for grabs, with Kenny looking to move away from seasoned campaigner Shane Long to younger alternatives like Aaron Connolly or Adam Idah. The latter who has started and been substituted in the last two games, yet to get off the mark for his country. Callum Robinson has shown his worth in recent weeks with West Bromwich Albion in the Premier League, he is dangerous from wide areas.

Despite the recent form, Ireland will dig deep and pull this one out of the bag.

Slovakia – Republic of Ireland Betting Tip

Republic of Ireland Draw No Bet + Under 1.5 1st Half goals with Betway at odds of 38/25 or 2.52.

Bet Republic of Ireland Draw No Bet + Under 1.5 1st Half goals on Betway