Prediction: Scotland vs Republic of Ireland

Scotland and Republic of Ireland were pretty unlucky to be placed in the same Euro 2016 qualifying group, especially with Germany and Poland also in the mix, given that both sides have shown a great deal of improvement of late and are hoping to make it to the tournament finals. This basically means that stakes will be extremely high when they square off at Parkhead on Friday.

Scotland had struggled to live up to the billing for quite a while when Gordon Strachan took over the reigns from Craig Levein in January 2013 and the former Celtic manager has quickly managed to get the national team back in track. The Scots showed a lot of promise in the second part of the 2014 World Cup qualifiers, with double win over very good Croatia side proving they have what it takes to mix it up with the best of them in Europe. The new found confidence for there for everyone to see when Scotland pushed World Cup holders Germany all the way in their opening Euro 2016 qualifier at Signal-Iduna Park, before showing a lot of character to see off Georgia at home and bring one point from Poland. In spite of the bright start, the Scots occupy the fourth place in Group D, sitting three points behind Poland and Ireland, and that means they need to continue the good run if they want to make this campaign a success. Gordon Strachan faces some selection problems ahead of the high-profile match at Celtic Park, with James McArthur, Phil Bardsley, Alan Hutton and Robert Snodgrass all missing through injury, while Steven Fletcher and Steven Naismith should continue up front.

Similar to their next opponents, Republic of Ireland progressed a great deal under the current manager and they, too, have high hopes from the Euro 2016 qualifying campaign. Martin O’Neill’s charges had an easier fixture list than Scotland in the opening exchanges, although they did well to win in Georgia and hammer minnows Gibraltar, while the 1-1 draw in Germany has been the highlight of their campaign. The Irish were largely outplayed by their more illustrious opponents but still managed to salvage a draw by scoring in the dying moments of the match and this result shows just how far the team has come having suffered two heavy defeats to the same opposition in the 2014 World Cup qualifiers. Given that they are currently in a very good position, Ireland would probably settle for draw at Celtic Park, so we can expect a cautious approach from Martin O’Neill. The highly rated boss has had even more problems than his Scotland counterpart, with James McCarthy, Glenn Whelan and Marc Wilson all ruled out.

Conclusion

While both sides are high on confidence following a good start, the two managers are well aware that a defeat in this kind of game could seriously damage their chances of reaching the tournament finals and I fully expect both Scotland and Ireland to keep things tight at the back and not risk too much when going forward.

Verdict: Under 2.5 goals

Best Odds: 1/2

Bookmaker: bet365