Ireland host Austria for their World Cup Qualifiers fixture on Sunday. Ireland are level with Serbia at the top of group D being 4 points clear of 3rd place Wales and Austria after five matches. Ireland are unbeaten so far and have gone three wins and two draws in their five encounters. Austria are coming after two defeats in their last three games and they are desperate to win this contest to climb the standings.
Ireland have been struggling to find the back of the net in the last two games scoring just two times during the process. They will have a difficult match against Austria but they should take advantage of their good form and try to win the three points. They are fighting Serbia for the top spot finish, a place that provides them a direct spot in the World Cup 2018 from Russia. Martin O\’Neill’s boys are really ambitious playing most of their matches with their heart and the fact that they are playing in front of their fans represents a big plus. If they win this match, not only they are one step closer to Russia 2018 but they have the chance to destroy Austria’s qualifying hopes.
Austria narrowly lost 1-0 to Ireland earlier in the campaign on their turf but they have better overall head-to-head records with five wins, two draws, and just two defeats suffered in their previous nine mutual encounters. While this will be no easy mission, a defeat here would be catastrophic for the visitors. Since the defeat against Ireland back in November, Austria conceded just one goal in three matches and they will put their best effort to maintain this great defensive game and score on the break. The bookies expect a really tight battle – Ireland are priced at 2.4 with the green listed bookmaker Betfair; Austria are priced at 3.2 with Bet365. We believe that Ireland have smaller odds just because they are playing this match on their turf.
We expect a thrilling encounter with both teams pushing for the victory. A goal before the 30th minute represents a big chance for the match to go over 2.5 goals and that bet is priced at 2.4 with WilliamHill pre-live. Another great approach is to bet the over 2 goals AH (Asian Handicap) at 1.82 with BetVictor. Austria have looked as an average team so far in this campaign and Ireland should put some pressure on them, win this clash, put seven points between them and their followers and why not climb in 1st place with four games to go till the end of the group stage.
Best pick for the match:
Republic of Ireland to win with DNB (Draw No Bet) at 1.7 with Bet365
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