THE ULTRA FRIDAY: The Ultra previews NORTHERN IRELAND v SLOVAKIA with a recommended BETDAQ bet.
NORTHERN IRELAND V SLOVAKIA
7.45pm The World Cup Qualifiers continue on Betdaq Betting Exchange with a massive game in Group A on Friday night. Northern Ireland host Slovakia and no doubt Windsor Park will be absolutely rocking given this is Northern Ireland’s most important game in qualifying in my opinion. Everyone is expecting Germany to top this Group, but they got off to a terrible start when losing 2-0 to Slovakia away from home. That was a terrible result for Northern Ireland too given the boost it gave to Slovakia – I don’t think it’s unreasonable to call this a must win game for Northern Ireland given how things have worked out already.
It’s actually a massive few days for Northern Ireland given they host Germany here too next week. Their qualification hopes could be over by Monday night or very much alive. Obviously Northern Ireland will have their hands full with Germany, so this is the big one. They come into the game as the favourites too; the home win is trading 2.66 with Slovakia 3.3 and the draw is 3.05 at the time of writing. It’ll be interesting to see how Slovakia approach this game given a draw is a decent result allowing for the fact they have already taken points off Germany.
They made very hard work of beating Luxembourg away from home in September though; only days after beating Germany they had to wait until the 90th minute to find a goal against Luxembourg. Northern Ireland beat Luxembourg away from home quite comfortably 3-1. Both sides played at the same level in the Nations League – Slovakia finished behind Sweden in a C Group while Northern Ireland topped their Group involving Bulgaria, Belarus and Luxembourg.
These sides have met twice previously, but a lot of water has gone under the bridge since they drew 0-0 in 2-16 and then Slovakia won 2-1 in the Euro 2020 Playoffs to qualify. It actually finished 1-1 in 90 minutes but Slovakia found a winner in extra time. I have to say, both sides have very similar profiles here and it’s no surprise that we have a very open betting heat. I know Slovakia struggled to score away to Luxembourg but I wouldn’t actually have the big difference between the sides here – I’d have Northern Ireland a little closer to 3.0 and Slovakia shorter too. I expect a very close game here, and while I couldn’t put anyone off the draw, from a value point of view I like the Northern Ireland lay.
The Ultra Says:
Two points lay (liability) Northern Ireland to beat Slovakia at 2.66 on BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE.
You can view all markets here -> https://betdaq.biz/NirSlv
