Euro 2012 Qualifying Betting: Armenia v Republic of Ireland

Internationals / James Eastham / 02 September 2010 / Leave a Comment

Aston Villa centre-half Richard Dunne is an injury doubt but should be fit to take his place in the starting line-up on Saturday

"The Republic of Ireland went unbeaten through their five World Cup qualifiers away from home and will be confident of taking all three points against a side that lost eight of 10 fixtures during the same qualifying campaign."

Republic of Ireland should have too much quality for Armenia when the sides meet in Yerevan on Saturday, writes James Eastham

Giovanni Trapattoni's side have an excellent away record since the Italian took over. The players will be confident of taking all three points against opponents that lost eight of their 10 World Cup 2010 qualifiers, including three of five home games.

During the same qualifying campaign, the Republic of Ireland were unbeaten in five away games: they won in Georgia (2-1) and Cyprus (2-1) and drew in Italy (1-1), Bulgaria (1-1) and Montenegro (0-0). Those results suggest there might be some value in backing both teams to score at [2.18] or laying Republic of Ireland to keep a clean sheet at [1.86], but there's no question the Irish are the better bet of the two sides to win the match at [1.77]. Armenia are [5.8] to pull off a surprise victory.

For the Irish, Stephen Hunt is missing, which is a blow, but latest reports from the camp suggest that Richard Dunne will be fit despite sitting out some training sessions this week with a back injury.

Should he start, Dunne is worth considering in the scorers markets as he's a key target in the air for the side at set-pieces. Inevitably, Robbie Keane will be the shortest price on the online coupon, with strike partner Kevin Doyle close behind.

Republic of Ireland rarely win by big margins either at home or away regardless of the calibre of the opposition, so correct-score punters ought to focus their attentions on a range of low-scoring away wins. 0-1 at [6.6], 0-2 at [8.0] and 1-2 [9.6] would be my choices.

Recommended Bet: Republic of Ireland to win in Armenia @ [1.77].