Slovakia vs Ireland Prediction and Betting Preview 08 Oct 2020

Here's our Slovakia vs Ireland Prediction analysis:

Ireland will step up their bid to reach a third consecutive European Championship finals when they tackle Slovakia in a qualifying semifinal playoff fixture on Thursday night.

Match status: 2020/21 Euro Qualification
Kick-off: Thursday 08 Oct 2020, 07:45pm CET
 Venue: Tehelné pole (Bratislava)

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With the coronavirus cases increasing exponentially in Slovakia, there had been doubts as to whether this game would hold as earlier planned. However, the Slovakian government has given the go-ahead despite the state-of-emergency in the country.

The Falcons haven’t gotten their Nations League campaign off to the best start, picking up a single point from their first two games. Taking on Ireland in a few hours’ time, Slovakia will be looking to make amends with a positive result come fulltime.

Slovakia vs Ireland Team News

Having had its fair share of postponements, these two sides will be happy to finally get this fixture over with on Thursday. Initially scheduled for March, the game was later moved to June, before being chalked off again due to coronavirus concerns.

Thrown in the hat with the likes of Croatia, Wales and Hungary; Slovakia will be disappointed to have missed out on automatic qualification from Group D of the EURO qualifiers. Playing some decent football, the Falcons could easily have made top-two.

However, some inconsistencies cost them along the way as they relinquished second-place to Wales, trailing Ryan Giggs’ side by a single point. Garnering a whopping 13 points from 8 games, it’s fair to say Slovakia enjoyed a satisfactory campaign.

Beginning their UEFA Nations League journey with a humbling 3-1 loss at the hands of Czech Republic, Sokoli were quickly thrust into panic mode. Losing so heavily in their opening fixture was clearly not a good omen for Slovakia.

However, Pavel Hapal rallied his boys around as they bounced back from that slump to hold Israel to a one-all draw in unfamiliar territory. Worryingly for the hosts, they have remained winless in each of their last five clashes against Ireland – four of them ending in draws.

That said, Ireland are under a new management after erstwhile head coach Mick McCarthy was booted out in April. With Stephen Kenny now in the dugout, Jack’s Army will be hoping to spark a resurgence from their recent fails.

Kenny began his reign with a hard-fought one-all draw in Bulgaria – Shane Duffy saving face with a 93^rd minute equalizer. Subsequently, they fell to defeat at the hands of Finland, Fredrik Jansen hitting the target to send Ireland sinking.

As things stand, the Boys in Green have a single win to report from their previous six outings. More worryingly, they have emerged victorious in only one of their previous 11 away fixtures across all competitions – a fortuitous 1-0 win over Gibraltar last year.

Injured or Suspended Players

Slovakia: No injuries or suspensions.

Ireland: No injuries or suspensions.

Pre-Match Odds

Slovakia: 2.78
Draw: 3.2
Ireland: 3.045

All odds are with 1xBet and are subject to change.

All odds are for Slovakia vs Ireland Predictions with 1xBet and are subject to change.

Slovakia vs Ireland Predictions

Recent h2h encounters between these two have seen them share the spoils. Also, these two teams are heading here with a single victory from their preceding five games. This comes to show they are in poor form, and are well-matched.

As such, picking an outright winner could be particularly difficult. There is every likelihood this fixture ends in a draw, with Ireland progressing on penalties.