Wales v Ireland Betting Preview – World Cup 2018 Qualifiers 9th October
It is incredible that everything has come down to this. This is now a straight shoot out between the two nations to try and muscle their way to the World Cup. It’s a fascinating scenario. A win for either one of them could see them claim the top spot. Equally, with a loss, the loser will be out. Wales do have a slight advantage in that they only need a draw out of this to hold on to second place, but with Serbia slipping up against Austria on Friday, automatic qualification has now become a factor too.
Wales v Ireland Betting Tips
Well, this is it then. The battle for qualification was heading here and on Monday in Cardiff Wales and Ireland will showdown to see who finishes in the top two. Wales nabbed a 1-0 win in Georgia on Friday to hold on to second place, fending off Ireland to beat Moldova in Dublin. So all of that leaves Wales in second place but now only a point back of leaders Serbia who lost 3-2 at Austria. So that means if Serbia slip up again, the winner of this match could win the group. But Serbia only faces Georgia at home and will probably win it. So this is more realistically a battle for second place in the group and Wales because they can qualify with a point. Whether that would be enough to see them finish as one of the best runners up is a different matter.
This is bound to be tense and both of these sides struggle for goals so under 2.5 goals at bet365 is a price of 8/15. Wales do have home form in the campaign as they have produced a W2 D2 record in Cardiff, the wins coming over Austria and Moldova. They played out a 0-0 draw when they want to Ireland earlier in the campaign and in the bet365 correct score market a repeat 0-0 outcome is a price of 7/1. Wales are missing Gareth Bale as the Real Madrid man is out injured for Wales of course and they found some unlikely heroes lately with Tom Lawrence getting his first goal for Wales against Georgia on Friday, while young Ben Woodburn got the only goal of the game in their last home match, a 1-0 win over Austria in September.
A brace from Daryl Murphy gave Ireland a 2-0 home win over Moldova on Friday and that kept them on track for a shot at qualification. A draw isn’t good enough for Ireland here so they are the ones to have to take some kind of initiative in the group. Murphy is a 3/1 bet365 anytime goalscorer option, with Wales’ Hal Robson-Kanu and Sam Vokes trading as joint 9/4 favourites. Ireland have scored two goal less than Wales have in the campaign and away from home they have produced a W2 D2 record and in that sequence, they have conceded in three of their four. Both teams not to score at bet365 in this is a price of 4/6. Three of the last four between Wales and Ireland have been drawn with Ireland going unbeaten in their last five against the Welsh (W2 D3).
Wales v Ireland Betting Odds
Wales even money, Draw 9/4, Ireland 9/4
Wales v Ireland Predictions
Draw: It is hard to see past the draw with the lack of goals that both nations have produced. Ireland have to throw more at this, but Wales have done well defensively in the group and can stick in there and grind out the point to get them through.
