Thursday Football Tips: Follow the Georgian star

North Macedonia v Georgia
Thursday 9 June, 19:45
Live on Premier Extra

The first two editions of the Nations League won plenty of praise for introducing more competitive games to international football but the switch to June dates has led to a more friendly feel, especially in the tournament's upper echelons.

It's been better towards the lower end of the scale though where there is great pride among many of the supposedly 'smaller' nations.

And it's in League C where I feel opportunity lies on Thursday with North Macedonia hosting a high-flying Georgia side.

The visitors have started the campaign with back-to-back wins over Bulgaria and Gibraltar to extend their unbeaten run to seven games. Sweden and Kosovo have also been defeated in competitive games during that run.

This is considered their toughest assignment in the group and it could go a long way to deciding promotion.

Georgia have been on the front foot during their impressive streak and after matchday two in this competition, they've had more shots than any other nation (46).

While 28 of those did come against minnows Gibraltar, a tally of 18 away to Bulgaria in a game they won 5-2 is a strong figure.

Against a team which could only draw with the Bulgarians, don't expect them to sit back here and, with that in mind, two bets stand out.

First of all, I'll happily take the 7/10 about the away side winning over 3.5 corners.

They forced eight against Gibraltar and six in Bulgaria on Sunday. In the aforementioned Sweden game, they managed five.

However, the second selection gives us the chunky price and that's Khvicha Kvaratskhelia to score at any time.

The rising star of Georgian football has six goals in his last seven competitive internationals, while he assumed penalty duty against the Bulgarians.

Kvaratskhelia, who will join Napoli this summer, also has eight in his last nine domestic games for Georgian league leaders Dinamo Butami, while as an added bonus he netted in the equivalent fixture of the 2020/21 Nations League.

Usually a wide man, he's played more centrally in the current international window and subsequently taken a tournament-high 10 shots, so 4/1 about him finding the net for a team brimming with confidence simply looks too big.

The Bet Builder double pays just over 8/1.

Read Dan Fitch's preview of Thursday's Nations League games