Andy's Friday tips - Trap's Ireland to nick it
We're back to international action this week with Europe's finest all attempting to take a step in the right direction towards qualification for Euro 2012. We find England, Scotland and Republic of Ireland all top of their respective groups but Northern Ireland and Wales have plenty of work to do and these next two rounds of matches can put them right back into contention or signal the end of their campaign before they've even got started. I've been in some pretty good tipping form of late; let's hope that continues with these...
Wales v Bulgaria
Wales caretaker manager Bryan Flynn was dealt a bitter blow ahead of this match with the news that star man and captain Craig Bellamy will be unavailable for Wales' next two games through injury, including this crucial first one against Bulgaria. Mind you, the fact that Dimitar Berbatov has called it a day as far as international football goes is some sort of consolation, given the recent goalscoring form the Manchester United striker has been in.
Flynn knows these players well and what he can expect from them, whilst they seem pretty happy with his appointment. This is really the sort of match Wales need to be winning rather than drawing if they're going to give themselves any sort of chance of qualifying for Euro 2012 and much will depend on the impressive Gareth Bale, who is (alongside the absent Bellamy) the real class act in this Wales team. Bulgaria have some weapons of their own though and the Welsh will need to keep tabs on Bolton winger Martin Petrov who's played some good stuff of late.
The crowd will certainly give the home side a boost but these look two pretty evenly matched teams to me and my guess is the final result will reflect that.
Recommended Bets:
Back the draw at [3.25]
Back the 1-1 draw at [7.0]
Northern Ireland v Italy
Italy's World Cup campaign was nothing short of a disaster with many accusing Marcello Lippi of picking too many experienced players and not enough young, energetic and gutsy types. New coach Cesare Prandelli certainly isn't making those same mistakes and surprised a few by starting the unpredictable Antonio Cassano, who had been in the international wilderness for years, in the first two qualifiers.
They're two from two in this campaign so far, including a hard-fought win in Estonia, and justifiably go into this game as odds-on favourites. There's a clear gulf in quality between the players on both sides and I think we're going to witness the visitors doing a classic Italian Job on Northern Ireland, stifling them in midfield and making their attacking talent count at the other end.
We've seen past Northern Irish sides come up with the goods at home in recent years, like when they beat England and Spain, but they're up against a good Italian side on Friday night and I suspect Italy will have justified their status as white-hot jollies by the final whistle.
Recommended Bets:
Back Italy to win at [1.78]
Back Italy to win 2-0 at [8.4]
Republic of Ireland v Russia
This Ireland side is getting better and better under Giovanni Trapattoni and close to returning to that golden period under Jack Charlton when they qualified for two World Cups and a European Championship.
Robbie Keane and Shay Given are the two real stars of the team and it's great credit to them that they've carried on putting in high-class performances in an Ireland shirt when they've lost their places in the team at club level. But it's not enough to just have two players playing out of their skins and the key to the team's recent success has been that the likes of John O'Shea, Richard Dunne and Kevin Doyle have also made important contributions and made the most of their Premier League experience.
Mind you, this Russian side has that sort of experience of its own. Andrey Arshavin and Yuri Zhirkov both play in the Premier League and not just for any old teams; both finished in the top four last year and Arshavin in particular will be a major threat to Given's goal on the night. They'll be bitterly disappointed about losing to Slovenia in the World Cup play-offs and eager to make amends.
Ireland are a good, solid, home team who get a massive boost from a partisan crowd making a heck of a lot of noise in their new stadium, and though facing Russia is never a gimme, I think they'll nick this by the single goal.
Recommended Bets:
Back Republic of Ireland to win at [2.76]
Back Republic of Ireland to win 1-0 at [8.0]
Andy Gray is now on Twitter so follow him for his exclusive tips and his take on the biggest stories in football each week.
Published: 8 Oct 2010
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