World Cup Qualifiers This Weekend
“England should be confident of a comfortable win against Northern Ireland. The Premiership’s top talent are taking on a mixture of Championship and League 1 players, for whom a draw would be a massive result. David Healy has bagged a few goals for Northern Ireland recently, but although the team are slowly improving they are still limited. We’re predicting England will win by a margin of 2.2 to 2.4 goals, and that a total of 2.9 to 3.1 goals will be scored. German referee Wolfgang Stark is not overly strict, so I don’t anticipate many yellow cards, but any bookings are more likely to be handed out to the visitors as they try to frustrate the English attack.

“In the same qualifying group, Wales take on Austria in a more evenly matched game. Robbie Savage will be missed by the Welsh, but the blow may be lessened by the positive effect this could have in the dressing room. Although Austria managed to hold England to a draw last Autumn, I think they’re on the wane and expect Wales to nick three points at home. We’ve priced Wales up as favourites to win by a margin of 0.3 to 0.5 goals.

“Looking elsewhere, Scotland should congratulate themselves if they can force a draw a Italy. I’d be amazed by anything other than a home win though; although Italy are traditionally not the most prolific scorers, I fancy them to secure the points by a margin of 1.6 to 1.8 goals.

“Finally, Ireland have a tough task in Israel. Israel are back in Tel Aviv after playing in some neutral grounds, and it’s a hostile and intimidating place to play football. Although I’ve got Ireland as slight favourites to win it’s the most open of all the matches on TV this weekend. Personally, I’ll be backing Ireland to win as you should be able to find some value at a decent price.”
- posted by Doolally @ 1:07 PM