NORTHERN IRELAND v ESTONIA
European Championship Qualifiers
Thursday 21st March 2019
Kickoff: 1945hrs
Pick: N Ireland win
Bookmaker: Marathonbet
Odds: 1.50 (odds taken at 03:02 GMT, 19 Mar 2019)
Onto Group C, and Northern Ireland take on Estonia as the betting tips continue at Windsor Park in Belfast with the hosts desperate to get their campaign off to a winning start following some ordinary results of late.
European Championship Betting at Marathonbet
Northern Ireland Prediction
Northern Ireland were placed in League B in the recent UEFA Nations League which did seem a little over-optimistic from UEFA’s point of view and the inevitable eventually came to fruition as Northern Ireland finished rock bottom of Group 3 without a single point to their name, and they suffered relegation down to League C as a result.
Pitted against Bosnia-Herzegovina and Austria, the Irish struggled from the outset and lost all four of their group matches with home and away defeats to the other two nations, with Bosnia-Herzegovina emerging as the eventual group winners by a three point margin over runners-up Austria.
In between their Nations League commitments though, Northern Ireland recorded a 3-0 home win against Israel and drew 0-0 away from home at the Republic of Ireland in international friendlies, so they’ll be turning to those recent results for inspiration ahead of their clash with Estonia I daresay.
Defeats at home to Bosnia-Herzegovina and Austria will have done nothing for the host’s confidence, but manager Michael O’Neill has a decent squad at his fingertips including a forward line that consists of Boyce, Magennis, Ward and Lafferty.
- Northern Ireland are unbeaten in their last 5 matches in the European qualifiers
- Estonia have won just 2 of their last 10 away matches in all competitions
- Estonia have won the last 2 meetings against Northern Ireland
Estonia Prediction
Estonia’s UEFA Nations League campaign also ended in disaster as they too were relegated from Group 2 in League C, finishing bottom of a four-nation group comprising of Finland, Hungary and Greece.
Estonia finished up on four points thanks to a 3-3 draw at home with Hungary before recording a narrow 1-0 win away at former European champions, Greece. However, Estonia suffered back-to-back defeats away at Finland and Hungary as the rot quickly set in.
Since their Nations League debacle, Estonia have registered a 2-1 win at Finland and drew 0-0 at Iceland in recent international friendlies, but they face a tough opening match in this European Championship qualifier in Group C against Northern Ireland at Windsor Park on Thursday night.
The visitors will draw inspiration from the fact that they’ve beaten Thursday night’s hosts in their last two encounters against the Irish, although in truth, these matches were played over 7 years ago!
Betting Tips Verdict
In a tough group that also includes Germany and Netherlands, Northern Ireland will be keen to get an early jump here and they should do the business at home against Estonia here in this group opener at Windsor Park.
