Ireland vs Finland prediction: EUROPE: UEFA Nations League – League B betting tips on match 2024-11-13 19:45.
[p]Heimir HallgrĂmsson has enjoyed far from a dream start to life at the helm of the Republic of Ireland (W1, L3), leaving the Boys in Green’s chances of promotion all-but over ahead of matchday five. They are now reliant on England to lose both their remaining Group B2 games, albeit one of those is against Ireland – to keep their hopes alive, so Ireland will instead host Finland simply aiming to secure a point which will mean they avoid finishing bottom of the group.[/p]
[p]It’s against this opposition that HallgrĂmsson registered his only win as Ireland boss, part of a run of four wins from eight H2H meetings (D2, L2). A roadblock they could face again here is goalscoring issues, as remarkably Ireland have failed to score in eight of their ten UNL home matches – blanking in both such fixtures in this cycle too![/p]
[p]Finland arrive in Dublin looking to correct that H2H record, and will be buoyed by the fact that those two H2H wins came in the last three meetings and in this competition four years ago. The Eagle Owls will need every bit of confidence that can give them however as they’ve lost all four matches in this UNL cycle, and consequently could lose five consecutive matches for the first time since October 1994![/p]
[p]Like their hosts, goalscoring has also been an issue for Finland who’ve blanked five of their previous seven UNL away defeats. They’ve also failed to score before half-time in five of their last six matches – with the one exception being last month’s reverse fixture – and won just twice in their last five UNL outings when going 1-0 up (D2, L1), so it appears unlikely either side will run away with this contest.[/p]
[p]Players to watch: Having scored in Ipswich’s last two away matches, Ireland’s Sammie Szmodics will be high on confidence, with his last five goals all having arrived before half-time. Benjamin Källman will be looking to build on his impressive form at club level where he’s scored five goals in his last three games, while he has been on the losing side just once when scoring for Finland (W4, D2).[/p]
[p]Hot stat: Seven of Finland’s last nine matches saw both teams score.[/p]
[p]Written by Alex Bowmer [/p]