World Cup Qualifiers- Scotland Must Win Against Iceland
Scotland v Iceland
Scotland must beat Iceland at Hampden tonight if they are to have any hope of qualification from their group-and if manager George Burley wants to keep his job.
Scotland only have four points from four matches and have struggled since Burley has taken over. With only one win in eight games since his reign began Burley is under real pressure to get a result, but that’s by no means certain.
With home advantage it’s likely that Scotland could get a win but at 8/13 (Coral) we think that price could be a little skinny with their form not good at the moment.
Iceland are 5/1 (Ladbrokes) to get a win and there’s every possibility they can and the price looks good. However we’re going to go for a draw 13/5 (Skybet). We think the match may finish in a 1-1 scoreline 7/1 (Ladbrokes) and Eidur Gudjohnson 9/1 (Bet365) is our pick to be first goaslcorer.
England v Ukraine
England are unbeaten after their first four group matches and another win tonight against Ukraine would seem to just about make qualification a formality. Ukraine are also defending an unbeaten record in the group and will be no pushovers. They are well organised and are good defensively, so England will have to work for a win tonight.
The two teams have met twice before with England coming out on top each time. It’s no surprise then that bookmakers have them at 4/9 (Skybet) to win tonight. In both these previous matches Ukraine have failed to score and England are 4/5 (Betfair) to keep a clean sheet tonight. We think the England to win to nil bet at Evens (Ladbrokes) is the bet to be on as it offers a bit more value. We’re going with Peter Crouch to be first goalscorer at odds of 5/1 (Paddypower).
Wales v Germany
If Wales play like they did against Finland on Saturday then they could be on the end of a heavy defeat. They were very poor against the Finns and never really got into the game. Germany head this group and have been scoring goals for fun and we just can’t see how Wales will manage to pick themselves up to give Germany a game.
Wales are 7/1 (Ladbrokes) but we think backing them would be a waste of money. We’re going for a Germany win with a 4-0 correct score 20/1 (Coral).
Northern Ireland v Slovenia
After a great win over Poland Northern Ireland don’t want to undo all the good work and lose this one. The group looks wide open and if Northern Ireland can win tonight they extend their lead at the top of the group.
Slovenia have already beaten Northern Ireland in this group and at 12/5 (Bet365) they could have decent chance of doing the double. Northern Ireland are 11/8 (Skybet) but Slovenia have been decent away from home and we think a draw could be the outcome tonight.We’re going for a 0-0 scoreline 6/1 (Bet365).
Italy v Rep of Ireland
Italy just don’t get beaten at home very often and the draw 3/1 (Paddypower) probably offers Irish fans their best hope of getting a return on their stake. We just don’t think this will happen and although Ireland are playing well at present we think this is just too tough a task.Try a win for Italy with a 3-0 correct score 9/1 (Bet365).