The Premier League is taking a break for the latest round of international matches. While that can be boring for some, it still presents us with betting opportunities.
With that in mind, sometimes it’s better to stick with players and teams you know. Coming up, there are five games involving England, Ireland, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales between Thursday and Saturday.
We’re looking for a way to use all five teams in a British and Irish-inspired international football multi-bet.
Greece v England, 7.45 Thursday
We all remember how poor England were in their last round of games under Lee Carsley. In fact, they lost 2-1 to Greece at Wembley but so much has changed since then.
There was a lot of uncertainty back then about the permanent managerial position. With that solved and Thomas Tuchel incoming, the coaching staff have more direction even if it is only short term.
The confusion surrounding the England camp last time meant the collection of players were a together recipe for disaster. All that was needed was a sufficiently motivated Greek side and, bound together in grief, that’s what we saw.
A month is a long time in football, and we’ll see a completely different set-up this time in Athens. The two squads are incomparable in terms of raw talent and it’s hard to see England failing that badly again.
At only a shade of odds-on, England can be backed here to get their Nations League campaign back on track against the side sitting three points above them at the top.
Republic of Ireland v Finland, 7.45 Friday
Ireland could solidify their position in third place with a win against bottom side Finland in Nations League B, Group 2. Are they fully equipped to do it?
Firstly, in terms of form, they did win their away game in Finland last month after a second-half comeback. Secondly, Ireland’s current squad is way more valuable than Finland’s so it would seem the home team being fairly strong favourites in Dublin looks about right.
Fairly strong we say, but not what we’d call ‘long odds-on’ at around 8/13 at the time of writing. That price looks pretty temping in all truth, making Ireland a home win on our coupon.
Scotland v Croatia, 7.45 Friday
The two games above feature teams that are, on paper, clearly better than their opposition in terms of individual talent in England and Ireland. This time, the same cannot be said.
Croatia’s squad is more valuable and more gifted, but not by a whole lot. Add into the mix home advantage for Scotland and you can see why the away side is odds-against. Is there enough in this Scotland squad to consider backing them though?
Scotland have landed some big results in the past, that we know. The fact remains however that recently they’ve lost to Poland and drawn 0-0 with Portugal at home which doesn’t make for spectacular reading.
Croatia’s away form has seen them lose 2-1 in Portugal in a genuinely close game, before drawing 3-3 in Poland. In that game, they were 3-1 up at one stage and had to see out the last 20 minutes with ten men.
The odds likely have it right here in that the least likely result is a Scotland win, but we need some insurance and so Croatia or the draw in the double-chance market looks the way to go.
Northern Ireland v Belarus, 7.45 Friday
Northern Ireland sit top of their four-team group in advance of this game, with this week’s opposition being their closest challengers. A win then would make a big statement, and we reckon they’ve got the squad to do it.
These two fought out a 0-0 draw last month but things should be different this time. Northern Ireland have scored 11 goals in their last four home games, only failing to score before that against Slovenia with ten men. Home win.
Turkey v Wales, 5.00 Saturday
We have another first versus second clash in Kayseri. Both sides are currently unbeaten in the Nations League and Wales haven’t lost to Turkey in their last two clashes, both in fact being draws.
Turkey are full of goals at the moment having gone and won 4-2 at Iceland, a run that has seen then score 13 goals in their last seven games. Wales have been just a tad more frugal, but with that comes the worry that over a similar period they have shown themselves to be capable of conceding a few.
That’s not a great recipe for the travelling Welsh side and in all honesty, Turkey possess the better players. We really have to add them in as another potential home win.
The Bet
- England to beat Greece
- Ireland to beat Finland
- Croatia or draw (double chance) v Scotland
- Northern Ireland to beat Belarus
- Turkey to beat Wales
The accumulator should come to around 8/1.