Northern Ireland have to produce a win in this one to have any chance of moving ahead. They were downed 1-0 against Poland in their opener and now have to find a response to that setback. You know that you are going to get hard work and discipline from them, but Ukraine had surprisingly good patches for their opener against Germany, where he really had the world champions on the back foot. After losing against Germany though, this is equally a high pressure game for them to keep their qualification hopes alive with. The Ukraine are 4/7 to take the win, with the draw at 3/1 and Northern Ireland outsiders at a 6/1 quote.
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Stan James are offering the top price on all of the home nations to win their respective matches at Euro 2016. So any game involving England, Wales, Northern Ireland or Ireland during the tournament, you will be able to settle on top price at Stan James on them rolling out the win. The bookmaker is also offering superb first goalscorer insurance on all games, as they will refund losing bets on the market if the selected goalscorer scores second instead of first. .
Ukraine v Northern Ireland Betting Tips
The Ukraine looked far more dangerous than anyone will have had them pegged as being in their opening game against Germany. They couldn’t get the ball in the back of the net, but it wasn’t for the want of trying, particularly in the first half. The longer the game went on, the more control the Germans took at the end of the day, but it suggests that they Ukraine are going to show enough in attack to have a good go at the Irish. Like it is for Northern Ireland, this is really a must win game for them. However, the last two meetings between the nations have ended in a 0-0 draw and that has to be in the back of the mind of punters. A 0-0 correct score punt this one will return you a price of 7/1 with the Ukraine 1-0 the shortest priced option at a 4/1 quote with Stan James.
Andriy Yarmolenko is even money in the anytime goalscorer market for this one, with Evgen Seleznyov at a 7/4 quote. They do have the players there to put the win on the board but whatever the outcome of this game you would expect it to go under 2.5 goals which is a quote of 3/5 for the game. Thirteen of Northern Ireland’s last seventeen games have features two goals or less. The Ukraine were very good and they had a lot of pace down the flanks, which could really hurt Northern Ireland. From the four previous games between these two, the Ukraine hold a W2 D2 record against Northern Ireland, but scoring just the three goals in total across those games. They have not met since Euro 2004 qualification.
The Irish have to be a little more positive this time around. It was a good, gritty performance against a good side, but you wonder about their lack of punch in the final third. Kyle Lafferty is a big 4/1 punt in the anytime goalscorer market which say a lot about Northern ireland’s perceived chances of getting anything out of this. If they do then it will more likely be nothing more than a 1-0 victory, but at this point, that would be huge. They are still in decent form, the loss against Poland snapping a twelve match unbeaten streak that they were on, and they didn’t get hammered by an attack-minded Poland. You don’t worry too much about Northern Ireland’s defence at all, you have concerns about how much they can produce going forward though.
Who will win – Ukraine v Northern Ireland Predictions
Northern Ireland don’t look to have a big outlet going forward and that ultimately could cost them here. The Ukraine showed enough positive attacking moves, particularly in the wide areas against Germany to suggest that they are going to be the ones to bag the three points in this one. Look for a low scoring game, but the Ukraine to nick it and probably to nil as well.
