NATIONS LEAGUE: The Ultra previews ENGLAND v FINLAND and REPUBLIC OF IRELAND v GREECE both with a recommended BETDAQ bet.
ENGLAND V FINLAND
7.45pm We finish the International break on BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE with England back in action on Tuesday night. All the focus will be on Group B2 and we begin the evening with England hosting Finland – with England getting relegated in the last Nations League, anything bar an topping this Group while winning every game given the gulf in class between themselves and the other three teams in this Group. Most football fans will be expecting a comfortable home win here, and the market has England the red-hot favourites. England are trading 1.17 with Finland 21.0 and the draw is 9.2 at the time of writing. Anything bar an England win would be a massive shock here, and with them trading so short in the match odds market we’ll have to look around the side markets for some value. Finland made to the playoffs in the last Nations League but they were hammered 4-1 by Wales – given the gulf in class between England and Wales, that shows how big the gulf in class between these sides will be! It will be interesting to see team selection for England; they definitely have a chance to rotate players here.
Finland opened their campaign with a 3-0 loss against Greece, while England didn’t have to get out of first gear to beat a very average Republic of Ireland 2-0. The most interesting thing about that game was Lee Carsley not singing the English national anthem and then the two scorers having played for Ireland! England should have a routine win here, and in my opinion it’s only a matter of how many goals they score. The market is expecting goals with Over 2.5 goals trading 1.49, and it’s also expecting England to do most of the work as Both Teams Not To Score is trading 1.6. This current England squad have been superb at the back – obviously it’s a new era now with Southgate gone, but they didn’t have much fuss keeping a clean sheet on Saturday. Finland are very limited going forward too, and I feel the Both Teams Not To Score option is the best value here rather than how many goals England will score.
The Ultra Says:
Two points win Both Teams Not To Score at 1.6 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE.
You can view all markets here -> https://betdaq.biz/EngFin
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND V GREECE
7.45pm We stay in Group B2 to finish Tuesday night as the Republic of Ireland host Greece. While everyone expects England to beat Finland in this Group; we have an exceptionally open betting heat here with only ten ticks between the sides. Greece come into the game as the favourites at 2.84 with Republic of Ireland 2.94 and the draw is 3.15 at the time of writing. These sides should know each other well because they were in the same Euro 2024 qualifying Group. Ireland have been really poor lately – quite possibly the lowest quality squad they have had in years and they’ve been through a few managers with similar performances too. Greece finished well ahead of them in the Euro 2024 qualifying Group, they beat Ireland at home and away in that Group too. Greece opened their campaign with a smooth 3-0 win over Finland, while for Ireland – the fans seemingly put up more of a fight booing the English national anthem compared to the players on the pitch. The new manager made some very strange comments post game about having more authority and getting to know the players better – surely those are the basics for any new manager. He might not last long!
Greece have a new manager too, but Gus Poyet has left them in a good place and Ivan Jovanovic just wants to keep that good momentum. Greece lost out on a chance at Euro 2024 with a penalty shootout in the playoffs, but they were comfortably better than Ireland in their two games before getting to the playoffs. It’s hard to have much confidence in Ireland at the moment to be honest – they have been very limited, especially going forward, for many years now. That’s not really going to change with a new manager – I said at the weekend that Ireland’s best chance of getting a result against England was a 0-0 draw and although the quality of opposition is dramatically reduced here, it still feels the same for Ireland. I just don’t see them creating much going forward, and I’m very happy to lay them at 2.94 to have the Greece win and draw on our side. It’s my most confident bet of the International break.
The Ultra Says:
Four points lay (liability) Republic of Ireland to beat Greece at 2.94 with BETDAQ BETTING EXCHANGE.
You can view all markets here -> https://betdaq.biz/IreGrc
