Czech Republic vs Northern Ireland Predictions

Monday night brings Northern Ireland to Prague, as the Ulstermen take a break from their Euro 2020 qualifying campaign. The visitors just ran the Dutch close in Rotterdam, but they are still set to miss out on a top-two finish in qualifying. However, can Northern Ireland return to form in this trip? The hosts are coming off a big win, while they’ll be in no mood to slip up against a side with a terrible away record.

The Czech Republic boosted their qualification hopes with a 2-1 win over England on Friday, which has lifted them into the top two. However, the Czechs can’t build on that as their next qualifiers are the two November games. Elsewhere on Monday, the other four sides in their group are in action. The Czechs will likely need two big November displays, but can they build up some momentum here?

Northern Ireland’s qualifying group has been stacked against them, having started off with victories against Belarus and Estonia. Their final four games are all clashes with Germany and Holland – the first two of which they’ve lost. Their doubleheader against the pair in November is their last chance to secure a top-two finish in this group, but they face an incredibly tall order to make it.

While Michael O’Neill has worked wonders just to get NI competing again, his record hasn’t been perfect. Even the man who took them to Euro 2016 can’t seem to fix the issues in away friendlies. Northern Ireland have always had problems on the road, but of late O’Neill has turned around their competitive trips and got the Ulstermen picking up points.

However, NI remain poor in non-competitive games. They’ve failed to win any of their last 18 away friendly matches, a run which has seen them score just once. There’s little sign of them turning around that record, so the Czech Republic should take plenty of confidence into this clash. Having just seen off England, there’s a chance for two victories over UK opposition in one long weekend.

The hosts are coming into this clash in form, having won four of their last five matches. They’ve also won three on the bounce at their own ground, which makes things seem even tougher for the visitors. We think that a home win is clearly the best option here given the contrasting form between the two sides. We are going with the Czech Republic to win, while we’re also backing a 2-0 victory for the hosts as our correct score selection.