Wales vs Northern Ireland Betting Tips & Predictions

Wales put in a really good showing during qualification thanks to the exploits of star players Aaron Ramsey and Gareth Bale, eventually finishing two points behind World number one ranked Belgium and beating 3rd placed Bosnia-Herzegovina to the post by four points. If it wasn’t for their loss against the 3rd placed side in the ninth qualifying match they would have topped the group. However, both Bale and Ramsey will be missing on Thursday, so Wales will have to find another way to score goals.

Bale was also absent for Wales’ last match against the Netherlands back in November, but they managed to find a couple of goals en route to a 3-2 defeat at home to the struggling Dutch contingent.

This defeat made it three wins, two defeats, and a draw in their last six outings, although it did mark their first defeat on home turf since 2013. Since then, they have won five, drawn three, and lost one of their nine home matches.

Northern Ireland managed to make it to the finals of a major competition for the first time in 30 years, and this will be their first ever European Championships appearance.

They didn’t struggle through either. They topped their group with 21 points from their ten games, beating Romania and Hungary to the top spot thanks to their refusal to be beaten. They only lost one of their ten matches and come into this game on an eight match unbeaten streak.

I think their difficulty to beat will be on show on Thursday, and the absence of Aaron Ramsey and Gareth Bale give their chances of a result a huge boost. Odds of 8/13 for a Northern Ireland Win or Draw Double Chance look really good value, and I’m backing a 1-1 draw at 9/2 as well.