Tuesday's football predictions and 13/1 acca tips: Netherlands & Republic of Ireland to win

Independent

18 hours ago

Tuesday football tips
The final matches of the summer international break take place early this week as nations face World Cup qualifiers and friendlies before the end of the season.
The Club World Cup is around the corner for some, but for most these matches will spell the end of 2024/25, though many countries are already preparing for the 2026 World Cup.
That is especially true for teams like the Netherlands, who face another World Cup qualifier this week alongside sides such as Italy, Wales and the South American nations.
And other nations are simply contesting friendlies as they look to test themselves against varied opposition, with the Republic of Ireland taking on Luxembourg and Northern Ireland play Iceland.
Ahead of these matches, we've put together a small accumulator for three of the Tuesday fixtures featuring Northern Ireland, Netherlands and the Republic of Ireland, with odds of 13/1 at Bet365 for any interested punters.
Luxembourg vs Republic of Ireland prediction
The Republic of Ireland are yet to kick off their World Cup qualifying campaign in a difficult group containing Portugal and Hungary, though a 4-2 aggregate win in the Nations League play-off with Bulgaria has shown that they are more than capable of competing with those nations outside of the top tier.
Heimir Hallgrimsson's side drew 1-1 with Senegal last week in their first friendly of the summer international break, and this match should provide a far easier opponent after a respectable result at the Aviva Stadium.
Luxembourg have lost six of their last 10, though they drew with Bulgaria, Belarus and Northern Ireland while also beating Sweden in a surprise result.
However, the minnows have conceded 12 goals in their last 10 matches and often against inferior sides to Ireland, so the hosts remain the clear favourites.
While Ireland have lost five of their last 10, those results came against Portugal, England and Greece, and they have beaten Finland and Bulgaria twice each in that time, scoring seven goals in the process.
Due to the obvious gap in quality there is little value in several of the main markets on football betting sites, so we think a wager on the Republic of Ireland to win to nil provides the best value at 2/1 with William Hill.
Tuesday football prediction 1: Republic of Ireland to win to nil - 2/1 William Hill
Northern Ireland vs Iceland prediction
This match throws together two sides ranked 71st and 74th in the world respectively, as Iceland travel to face Northern Ireland in Belfast.
Michael O'Neill's side are yet to begin their World Cup qualifying campaign, though they lost 2-1 to Denmark last week in another friendly.
But as they gear up to face Iceland, Northern Ireland have lost just three of their last 10 matches, two of which were to Sweden and Denmark – teams ranked within the top 30 in the world.
Interestingly, each of these losses was in an away game, with the difference between playing home and away illustrated by following a 1-0 loss away in Bulgaria with a 5-0 home win.
Iceland beat a poor Scotland team 3-1 last week but that is just their third win in 10 games, having lost to Turkey and Wales alongside a disappointing 5-2 aggregate defeat to Kosovo in the Nations League relegation play-offs.
And it's Northern Ireland who are the slight favourites in this one, so we've gone with a simple wager here, with the host priced at 11/10 to win with various betting sites including Ladbrokes.
Tuesday football prediction 2: Northern Ireland to beat Iceland - 11/10 Ladbrokes
Netherlands vs Malta prediction
The Netherlands' loss on penalties to Spain in the Nations League quarter-finals showed that the Dutch are certainly back among Europe's elite after a good showing at Euro 2024, and they head into their second World Cup qualifier having won their opener against Finland 2-0 away from home.
The Dutch will be expected to win Group G, and their second test comes against a Malta side ranked 169th in the world.
Malta have lost five of their last 10 matches, with two draws coming against Andorra and Lithuania and the wins against Moldova, Andorra and Liechtenstein.
Within those matches, they lost 7-1 to Czechia and 2-0 to both Poland and Greece, illustrating the fact that they can concede quite a few goals when up against top-tier opposition.
And the match against the Dutch will be a far tougher task than any of their last games, with Ronald Koeman's side having lost just two of their last 10.
The Netherlands have played England, Spain and Germany in that time and have scored 19 goals, including three against Spain and four against Hungary.
And there's real potential for goals against a lowly Malta side who tend to concede against the top teams, so we think a wager on over 4.5 goals could provide value at 6/5.
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