Northern Ireland v Slovakia: Back goals for both teams in Belfast

• Slovakia top the group going into Friday's match

• Northern Ireland are improving under O'Neill

• BTTS a chunky price at 2.265/4

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Northern Ireland v Slovakia
Friday 10 October, 19:45
Live on BBC Two

Northern Ireland heading in the right direction

If you look at the Premier League action last weekend, it was the first time in five years that five Northern Ireland internationals featured. Trai Hume and Daniel Ballard both turned out for Sunderland against Manchester United, Conor Bradley featured in Liverpool's dramatic defeat at Chelsea, Justin Devenny played in Crystal Palace's loss at Everton, and West Ham brought on striker Callum Marshall during their defeat at Arsenal. Yes, all five of them lost, but their appearances are a win for Michael O'Neill and Northern Ireland.

It's by no means the depth of top-flight experience that helped Northern Ireland qualify for Euro 2016, but it's an improvement on recent times, and tonight's clash with World Cup qualifying group leaders Slovakia feels like an enormous occasion.

Northern Ireland lost 3-1 in Germany after opening the group with a 3-1 success against Luxembourg, and the recent campaign in Nations League C was encouraging. O'Neill's men lost just one of their six matches, and they won all three games on home soil.

Slovakia on a high after Germany win

The opening game of Slovakia's bid to reach the World Cup finals was a huge boost for the nation, as Germany were deservedly beaten 2-0. The key was to follow up that victory, and Slovakia duly did that with a 1-0 success in Luxembourg. However, Slovakia did flirt with disaster, as Tomas Rigo only popped up with the winner in the 90th minute.

There is top-level quality in this Slovakian side. Napoli's Stanislav Lobtoka is one of Serie A's best defensive midfielders, skipper Milan Skriniar is a hugely experienced centre-back, Lukas Haraslin can be a tough winger to contain on his day, and striker David Strelec has scored five goals across his last 11 internationals. Goalkeeper Martin Dubravka has Premier League pedigree, and defender David Hancko was brought in as part of Atletico Madrid's expensive summer rebuild.

BTTS an attractive price

I'm surprised to see Both Teams To Score trading at a hefty 2.265/4 here, as Northern Ireland have scored in their last nine internationals. Since the start of last year they have scored against Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Germany and Denmark, and while plenty of goals have gone in at the other end, that's still an impressive effort. I think they can score on a raucous night in Belfast, but I expect Slovakia to find the net too.

Now get Kevin's tips for Republic of Ireland's trip to Portugal on Saturday