England host the Republic of Ireland on Thursday night and, while it’s only a friendly, the teams are full of players who know each other well and would love to take the bragging rights for their respective nations.
We’ve covered the key betting angles in our preview, and featured a special Irish perspective, but what about the special bets, the multiples and interesting longshots that could ignite the occasion? Here’s a quick guide to some that could provide a bit of a fun and a winning return.
England are firm favourites to beat Ireland but they are winless in seven matches against the Republic of Ireland (D5 L2). That’s their joint-worst current winless run against an opponent – the other is Romania.
The previous match between England and Ireland was a 0-0 in Dublin in 2015. Three of the last five, though, have ended 1-1, going back to the famous Group stage clash at Italia ’90. You can get around 6.7 on the draw and both teams to score as a same game multiple on the Sportsbook.
If you envisage more goals then over 3.5 goals and both teams to score can be backed at 11/4. Be warned, though, England’s last five have failed to break the 3.5 goals mark.
Tired England to start slowly?
Even those who think England will beat Ireland can acknowledge that the Three Lions don’t always make a great start at Wembley. Admittedly, they often been inhibited by the weight of expectation from the crowd, which won’t be there on Thursday. But tiredness is a factor too, even though it’s only the autumn. The lack of preseason and the punishing schedule for players at Premier League clubs involved in European competition, means they might be slow to get going.
If you take this line of thinking, but fancy England to prevail by the end, then you could double up on England to win and the half-time draw at 3.72.
Goalscorers, penalties and more
Goals have been hard to come by for Stephen Kenny’s Ireland. They’ve scored just once in his five matches in charge. Jack Grealish played for Ireland at U21 level, due to Irish grandparents, but decided to represent the country of his birth at senior level. Grealish could start for England on Thursday. You can back him to score the first goal at 6/1.
It could be a big night for Harry Kane too, as this would be his 50th England cap. We don’t know, however, whether he’ll play, especially as Southgate may choose to save his talisman for Sunday’s Nations League match against Belgium.
In Kane’s absence, Dominic Calvert-Lewin could lead the line for England. The Everton man scored the opener in the 3-0 win against Wales last month and you can get 30/1 on him scoring first in another 3-0 victory here.
The introduction of VAR has meant we’ve seen a lot of penalties recently and you can get 25/1 on both teams being awarded a spot-kick at Wembley.
This is just a small sample of the vast array of options available in the specials, multiples and OddsOnThat markets on the match.
Source: BetFair Tips
