Ireland v Wales Betting Preview – World Cup 2018 Qualifiers 24th March
With both of these defending unbeaten starts to World Cup 2018 qualification, there are big points at stake in Dublin on Friday night. This fixture sees Ireland, who are top of UEFA Group D try and maintain their grip on that automatic qualification spot. They will do that with a win and that would give themselves a comfortable cushion in the top two. Wales are four points off the top already but a win would see them haul themselves fully into contention just the one point behind the Irish.
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Ireland v Wales Betting Tips
It has been a fine start to World Cup 2018 qualifying as they have collected ten points from twelve available. This will be their second home game in the qualifying campaign after putting a 1-0 win on the board against Georgia in their other home fixture. This probably isn’t going to be a game which is stacked with goals and an Ireland 1-0 correct score bet at Bet365 is a price of 5/1. Ireland have won their last two at home against Wales, one of those being a 1-0 victory back in 2007. Ireland have taken a clean sheet in three of their last four games against the Dragons and in the World Cup 2018 qualifying campaign, two of their three wins have been with a 1-0 scoreline. You can alternatively look at an Ireland to win to nil wager at Bet365 which is a price of 5/2. James McClean is top scorer for them with two of their seven goals in the qualification campaign and the midfielder is a 7/2 anytime goalscorer option. There are doubts about his fitness for the match though.
Ireland do miss Daryl Murphy and Shane Duffy who are out through injury. The overall head to head history between Ireland and Wales is split evenly with five wins each and three draws. Ireland though are undefeated in their last six games against Wales, and that runs goes all the way back to 1992. Of the thirteen previous international which they have contested, there have only been the two 0-0 draws. Martin O’Neill’s Ireland have averaged over two goals per game in their last five played so they are running in good form at the moment. Ireland, who have lost just one of their last nine games on home soil, look well poised to take qualification for Russia next summer by the scruff of the neck. A draw isn’t a bad result for Ireland, while the impetus is on Wales to come out and look for the win, because the Dragons desperately need to close the gap on both Ireland and Serbia. There is a decent chance that second-placed Serbia will beat Georgia on Friday in the group as well.
Wales have posted a W1 D3 record from their four World Cup 2018 qualification matches so far, and they just haven’t quite been there. They haven’t lived up to the hype that their epic Euro 2016 campaign delivered. Their only previous away game in the qualification process for Russia 2018 was out in Austria when the Welsh dug in there for a decent 2-2 draw. You do have to go back to October 2015 to find the last occasion of Wales suffering a defeat in a qualifying match for a major international tournament which was against Bosnia and Herzegovina. After they had opened World Cup 2018 qualification with a win over Moldova, Wales have gone on to draw three on the bounce. Gareth Bale is 11/8 outright favourite in the anytime goalscorer market for them and Aaron Ramsey is a 15/4 option. Although they may not admit it, this really is a must win game for the Welsh, defeat could really see them cut adrift.
Ireland v Wales Betting Odds
Ireland 7/5, Draw 2/1, Ireland 11/5
Ireland v Wales Predictions
Ireland Home Win: This will probably be a tight scrap because Wales have yet to taste defeat in qualification, just like the Irish. So there is value in looking under 2.5 goals on this one, but Ireland have a nice bit of momentum going for them and they should be value enough in the match outright to back to win the game.
