The Premier League may be on a break of almost two weeks, but there’s plenty of international action this weekend to give us our football fix. Friday night has the biggest offering of action this week, with some glamour friendlies, including three home nations, and a massive Euro 2016 play off.
While many are starting their preparations for the tournament in France next summer, others are still hoping to make it there. The Republic of Ireland are one such team, and they head to Bosnia on Friday looking to get a result to take back to Dublin for the second leg. Elsewhere on Friday, England face a trip to Spain, while Wales and Northern Ireland also begin their warm up matches for the tournament. Here we’ve previewed all four of those games, and picked out a bet for each.
Friday 13th November 2015
Bosnia and Herzegovina v Republic of Ireland (19:45) – Both teams to score (23/20 with Coral)
The Republic of Ireland face a daunting task in this one, heading to a ground at which Wales lost last month. The Bosnians are in good shape at the minute, and their late run to get into the playoffs has created some good momentum. On top of that, Miralem Pjanic and Edin Dzeko are linking up for Roma as well as on the international stage, so their attacking threat should be even greater now. Can Martin O’Neill inspire his side to get a result, with striker Jon Walters’ suspended and captain John O’Shea injured?
Expect O’Neill to take a similar approach to the one that got his team a 1-0 win over Germany last month. They’ll sit back and look to break on the counter, but will they be able to keep out Dzeko and co in intimidating surroundings? It’s hard to see them keeping a clean sheet, but you can see the Irish scoring. After all, this Bosnia side conceded four goals to Cyprus in qualifying. They’ve kept just three clean sheets in their last 13 at home, and two of them came against Andorra and Liechtenstein.
Spain v England (19:45) – Over 2.5 goals (13/10 with Betfair)
England qualified for the Euros in impressive style, winning every game in their group on the way. Their straightforward group has left them in the strange situation of basically forgetting about their last couple of competitive games, to concentrate on friendlies. This game against Spain and the following match against France should be a better test of their team than their wins against Estonia, but are the Three Lions ready to take on the current European champions? It’s going to take a massive effort from them to get anything from this match.
Luckily, they’ll be coming here with a full strength team, after rotating for the last round of qualifiers. This should be England’s strongest team taking on one of the better sides in Europe, and with their forwards on form, we’re backing them to hurt Spain at the back. The Spaniards should be able to do some damage of their own, given the great players that they have, but they can be open at the back. That’s why we’re predicting a more open game than Roy Hodgson would like, backing over 2.5 goals in this one at 13/10 with Betfair.
Northern Ireland v Latvia (19:45) – Both teams to score (5/4 with Coral)
Northern Ireland pulled off an incredible feat by making the European Championships, but they have hard work to do in the coming weeks. Tournament football takes a lot of preparation, so they need to be working in these friendlies, and behind the scenes, in order to be ready for their trip to France. Michael O’Neill’s side probably didn’t expect to be qualified when they arranged this friendly, as it’s not really the kind of workout that they need right now. Even so, another home win wouldn’t do them any harm, and they come into this match as heavy favourites with the bookies.
The odds on a win for NI seem far too short, though, especially as their manager could well make a few changes before this one. He’ll want to take a closer look at some squad players, and this is the first chance he’s had to do that in a while. Plus, this Latvia side aren’t the worst around. They may not have won a game in over a year, but they’re unbeaten in their last four away from home. Given that the Northern Irish haven’t been keeping clean sheets, and that the Latvians have scored in four on the bounce away, we’re backing both teams to score in this one.
Wales v Holland (19:45) – Under 1.5 goals (19/10 with BetVictor)
The Welsh are also building up to their first tournament in decades, and they’re kicking that off with a massive game against the Dutch. It’s hard to believe that of these two sides, Wales are the side who’ll be at the European Championships next year. The Dutch completely bombed in qualifying, and they ended up fourth in their group, despite finishing third at the last World Cup. They’re now being lined up in practice games for some of the leading sides in Europe, and Wales can be seen as part of that group now, given their recent rankings jump.
The big blow for Wales, and the spectators, is that Gareth Bale is out of this one. That probably explains why the Dutch are favourites here away from home. Even without Bale, it’s hard to pick a winner between these two. Holland will be low on confidence, while Wales are missing their main attacking threat. That’s why we’re backing a low scoring affair here. Even without Bale, Chris Coleman’s Welsh side are a great defensive unit, and they should be able to keep things tight here, although they’ll suffer going forward. With neither looking likely to bag a few goals, we’re backing under 1.5, at just under 2/1.