NATIONS LEAGUE: The Ultra previews Saturday’s matches between REPUBLIC OF IRELAND v SCOTLAND, ENGLAND v ITALY and WALES v BELGIUM all with a recommended BETDAQ bet.
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND V SCOTLAND
5pm We’re coming to the end of this International break on BETDAQ Betting Exchange, but I believe Saturday is the best day yet at the Nations League! We have three top class fixtures involving the Home Nations, and we have three fascinating markets too! We start the evening with Republic of Ireland hosting Scotland. This is a massive game for both sides. Scotland are going to start the day sitting top of the Group, however Ukraine are just behind them as they have also won their only game. After Ireland lost their opening two games, they will battle it out for relegation with Armenia, while Scotland and Ukraine will battle it out for promotion to an A Group. To get into an A Group would be an incredible achievement for Scotland and really highlight the improvement they have made over the last few years. I know they just missed out on the World Cup in the Playoffs, but even to get to the Playoffs is a very healthy place for Scottish football. When you think about how well Scotland are doing at the moment, you can’t help but compare them to Ireland and how badly Ireland are doing. We have landed two very nice lays on Ireland at low prices against Armenia and Ukraine, and I have to say I won’t be backing Ireland until we see a lot more from them.
We have a very open market here, with both sides trading the same price at 2.9! It’s not often you see a market as even as this, we actually aren’t too far away from seeing all three outcomes at 3.0. As I said above, I won’t be backing Ireland until I see massive improvement. They have been very poor for a number of years now, and although the manager has the backing of a lot of grass root League of Ireland fans we are yet to see improvement or results. Things seem to be going from bad to worse to be honest, highlighted by the embarrassing loss to Armenia. We also saw Ireland lose to Ukraine after Ukraine made a host of changes, and it seems home advantage doesn’t mean much to Ireland because they haven’t got the talent to create a lot of chances. Scotland are the better side here and I couldn’t put anyone off them at 2.9, however the stand out bet here is under 2.5 goals at 1.56. I can only see a very cagey game here, and given how little Ireland create I wouldn’t be surprised to see a 0-0 here if they can manage to hold Scotland. It’s definitely worth checking the price of 0-0 in the Correct Score market closer to kick off, and that would be value at anything over 8.0.
The Ultra Says:
Three points win Under 2.5 goals at 1.56 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE.
You can view all markets here -> https://betdaq.biz/IreSco
ENGLAND V ITALY
7.45pm Next we have the highlight of the day! England host Italy in a repeat of the Euro 2020 Final. It’s a shame this game isn’t at Wembley for a full repeat, but England will play their two home games in the next few days at Molineux – Wolves’ home ground. I have to say we’ve had a tonne of drama already in this Group, it’s been fascinating. England put themselves in massive hole when losing their opening game to Hungary and it was always going to be difficult to bounce back from that. They started to bounce back with a 1-1 draw away to Germany – needing an 88th minute penalty with a draw. With the win for Italy over Hungary and them also drawing to Germany, they have put themselves in pole position to get to the Finals. Toe be honest, England are in a relegation battle at the moment and they will need to beat Germany and Italy at some stage. I would suggest that their chances of winning the Group are gone with that loss to Hungary, and now the focus should just be on not getting relegated. They don’t need that pressure and negativity from the UK media heading into the World Cup later in the year. When you step back and look at England’s form as a whole, they have been fantastic in recent years. We all know how close they came to winning Euro 2020 after all. They still have major issues at the back however, and they will have to try protect that weakness here. Maguire is having big problems, and he really needs a break away from football in my opinion. A summer holiday will do them good.
Despite having a very strong squad, this will be a good test for Italy. They need a good Nations League to bounce back from the embarrassment of crashing out of the World Cup Playoffs against North Macedonia. They could have easily missed out because they had to play Portugal if they won, but the loss against North Macedonia made headlines around the world. I think we have two sides here who have an immense amount of talent, but for whatever reason they aren’t getting the best out of the players. England are never far away from a disjointed performance – and I expect a much closer game than the odds suggest here. The market has England odds on at 1.86, but I just feel that price is all wrong here. They are out of Wembley and come into this game off the back of two pretty average performances. I know they picked up a draw away to Germany and that was good, but you could tell by the German interviews after the game that they felt very unlucky not to win. Jack Grealish really lifted England when he came on, and I think he has to start if England are going to win. That being said, even with Grealish, I’m happy to lay England here at the odds. We’re going to have a very close game here.
The Ultra Says:
Three points lay (liability) England to beat Italy at 1.86 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE.
You can view all markets here -> https://betdaq.biz/EngIta
WALES V BELGIUM
7.45pm We move to Group A4 to finish the day as Wales host Belgium. This should be another cracking game, and it’s a shame that it kicks off at the same time as England v Italy. Wales are currently going through a rollercoaster of emotions at the moment – they sit bottom of Group A4 with two losses from two games, but in between they made it to the World Cup with a win over Ukraine in the Playoff final. I say a rollercoaster of emotions, but I doubt many Wales fans will care about the Nations League compared to getting to the World Cup! It was a 64 year wait, with the last World Cup for Wales coming in 1958. I suppose coming into an A Group was always going to be very difficult for Wales – I said prior to their opening game that they will battle it out for relegation with Poland while the Netherlands and Belgium will battle it out to reach the Finals. After losing their opening game to Poland, before the World Cup Playoff, Wales are massively on the backfoot now. Belgium also had a setback in the race for top spot, losing their opening game 4-1 to the Netherlands with home advantage. I have to say that was a very surprising result – usually Belgium are different gravy in the Group stages of any competition before running into the problems in the main tournament. They bounced back with a 6-1 win a couple of days later against Poland which is more of what you’d expect from this Belgium side, and it will be interesting to see how they get on in their first away game here now. I was surprised to see them trading as big as 1.92 when I clicked into the market. I felt that they would be priced closer to 1.8 here, and it’s going to be hard to find a better value bet in this fixture.
The goals market is trading close to 2.0 on over/under 2.5 goals which is interesting. I would definitely lean towards overs – I know Wales have been focusing on being strong at the back lately, but Belgium are going to make this a pretty open game. Their opening two games have been loaded with goals, and they will be very confident of outscoring this Wales side. While focusing on being strong at the back, Wales have definitely struggled to score in recent times. In the last Nations League they had under 2.5 goals in five of their six games, and the overs was in the final game. From that point of view, and also the fact that a draw would be a good result for Wales here does make me feel that the 1.92 on Belgium is a better value bet than over 2.5 goals at 2.0. I just feel that there is more ways for this bet to win – if Wales make the game very cagey, I can still see Belgium grinding out a 1-0 win with the goal possibly coming in the final third of the game. However, overall I do expect an entertaining game and Belgium to score more than once. The 1.92 makes a lot of appeal.
The Ultra Says:
Three points win Belgium to beat Wales at 1.92 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE.
You can view all markets here -> https://betdaq.biz/WalBel
