Nations League Betting Tips: Can Wales and Ireland kick-off with away wins?
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Odds and preview for tonight’s fixtures
The second edition of the Nations League begins tonight, with 10 fixtures to look forward to.
There’s been a few changes to the format this time around, with the top three tiers increasing to 16 countries each – with most groups now having four teams, rather than three.
Wales and Ireland both start their campaigns today – they’ve been drawn together in League B, Group 4, along with Finland and Bulgaria.
Spain and Germany also face each other in arguably the most-anticipated match-up of the international break. We’ve previewed that, as well as the pick of tonight’s other games, right here.
Finland v Wales (19:45)
The way things are going, Gareth Bale may well play more football for Wales than Real Madrid in the coming season. It’s not an ideal situation for Ryan Giggs, but he’s got plenty of faith in Bale’s ability – the forward will wear the armband tonight.
Wales are unbeaten in their last six games – they’re 7/5 to keep that going with a win, or 2/1 to pick up a point. Finland are 9/4 to win on home soil.
Wales have only conceded more than once in three of their 19 games under Giggs, while Finland have kept the opposition out in four of their last five home games. Wales and Under 2.5 Goals is a 3/1 shot.
It’s no surprise Bale leads the goalscoring markets – he’s 7/2 to score first or 13/8 anytime. Finland will look to Teemu Pukki, who’s 9/4 as an anytime scorer.
Bulgaria v Ireland (19:45)
Stephen Kenny begins his tenure as Ireland boss in Sofia. After promising spells with Dundalk and the Irish Under-21 side, there’s plenty of optimism around Kenny.
He’s got solid defensive options, including the likes of Matt Doherty, Seamus Coleman and Enda Stevens, but can he add more attacking threat?
Ireland are 21/20 favourites, with Bulgaria at 3/1 to pick up only their second win since October 2018. However, four of Ireland’s last six Euro 2020 qualifiers finished level – the draw’s going for 21/10.
Aaron Connolly is 23/10 to score his first senior international goal for the Boys in Green, with Shane Long going for the same price in the anytime market.
Germany v Spain (19:45)
In League A, Germany and Spain are set to battle for top spot in Group 4. Whoever wins when they meet in Stuttgart tonight will be in the driving seat.
Joachim Low has left out those who featured for Bayern Munch or RB Leipzig in the latter stages of the Champions League, though our traders still have Germany as 27/20 favourites.
Spain aren’t far behind at 2/1, with the draw going for 12/5. Whoever wins here would put themselves in the Group 4 driving seat, so we could see a cagey game – Under 2.5 Goals is 19/20.
Timo Werner and Kai Havertz may well be linking up soon for Chelsea as well as Die Mannschaft – we’ve got Werner at 7/2 to open the scoring.
New Leeds United signing Rodrigo Moreno could lead the line for Spain. He’s 2/1 to net at any point.
Ukraine v Switzerland (19:45)
The other game in Group 4 sees Switzerland head to Lviv. Several members of Andriy Shevchenko’s squad have had to pull out with injury, but Switzerland will have to contend without two of their most important players – Xherdan Shaqiri and Denis Zakaria.
We’ve got the hosts as narrow 29/20 favourites, with Switzerland at 21/10. Ukraine are on an 11-game unbeaten run, during which they’ve kept seven clean sheets. You can get a Ukraine win to nil for 27/10.
All odds and markets correct as of date of publication
