EURO 2024 QUALIFIERS: The Ultra previews FINLAND v NORTHERN IRELAND and ENGLAND v MALTA both with a recommended BETDAQ bet.
FINLAND V NORTHERN IRELAND
5pm The Euro 2024 Qualifiers continue on BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE on Friday with Northern Ireland and England both in action. We kick things off in Group H as Finland host Northern Ireland, and this week will put an end to a desperately disappointing qualifying campaign for Northern Ireland. They go into the final two games already eliminated, and they’ll have to view these two games with a view to the future. Slovenia and Denmark should take up the top two spots, but Kazakhstan are four points behind and everyone has two games left, so they could catch someone. Finland head into this game with the luxury of having a playoff spot in the bag thanks to the Nations League ranking from the B Groups. It’s no surprise to see Finland come into the game as the favourites with home advantage. They are trading 2.04 at the time of writing with Northern Ireland 4.3 and the draw is 3.4. Northern Ireland are going through a very poor spell at the moment; they nearly got relegated from a C Group in the Nations League – they finished on the same points as Cyprus at the bottom of the Group.
Given their ranking, and their Nations League performances Northern Ireland are always going to struggle to qualify for major tournaments. They’ll always bump into a big side or two so they are always having to go through the playoff route. That’s why the Nations League has become important to be honest. Away from home Northern Ireland always tend to struggle – they have tried to keep games as tight as possible but they always generally struggle to create chances away. They only scored twice against San Marino away from home in this Group too. Finland won the reverse fixture 1-0 early in the Group, and they look good value at 2.04 to win again with home advantage. The only decision here is the Finland win or Under 2.5 goals at 1.62. I feel both are nice bets; however this game absolutely screams a lack of chances and goals. If Finland win I feel it’s because they grind out a win, so I’m going to have a bet on Under 2.5 goals at 1.62. I’m more confident in that selection – I wouldn’t be surprised to see another 1-0 Finland win which is trading around 6.6 in the Correct Score market.
The Ultra Says:
Three points win Under 2.5 goals at 1.62 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE.
You can view all markets here -> https://betdaq.biz/FinNor
ENGLAND V MALTA
7.45pm Next we have England in action as they host Malta in Group C. The only really question here is how many goals are England going to score rather than will they win – they are trading as short as 1.02 at the time of writing! That’s the shortest price around from the Qualifiers on Friday, as you could have guessed! If you fancy a shock, which would be one of the biggest shocks in International football in fairness – Malta are trading 160.0 and the draw is 50.0. The best Malta can hope for is a 0-0 draw really, but they’ve already lost their seven games in this Group – and that includes a 4-0 loss against England when they had home advantage earlier in the Group. We have a fascinating situation in Group C with Italy not currently in the top two – they are three points behind Ukraine but they do have a game in hand – Italy actually meet Ukraine in the final matchday of the Group, so we could have drama yet. England have a nice cushion of three points over Ukraine and they are certain of a top two finish. This is a banker win too; and it’s just about how many goals they can score. With that in mind, all the focus here is going to be on the goal and handicap markets.
It’s fair to say Gareth Southgate will take the chance to see a few of his younger players and fringe players here. At the time of writing, Jude Bellingham and Levi Colwill have withdrawn from the squad due to injury – how serious those injuries are we don’t know but these two games for England are effectively meaningless. James Maddison, Callum Wilson and Lewis Dunk are also all out with injury. It’s definitely a chance for Southgate to see some new faces though, and I would expect a fresh England XI. I still also expect plenty of goals here – Malta couldn’t even win a D Group in the Nations League, only beating San Marino twice. I feel we’ll see plenty of goals here, and Over 4.5 goals is worth backing at 2.1 or bigger in my opinion. I’m happy to keep stakes low here given the situation, England will need an early goal, but then the floodgates will open.
The Ultra Says:
One point win Over 4.5 goals at 2.1 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE.
You can view all markets here -> https://betdaq.biz/EngMal
