Nick Borrman
England at Ireland
UEFA Nations League
(216477) England at (216478) Rep. of Ireland
Managers for both squads are new as both teams look toward a fresh era and nobody needs it more than England who, although making it to the Euro Final this past summer, continue to fail to get over the hump and win the big tournament. The fact that they have fallen into League B here is embarrassing to say the least. However, full expectation will be a clean sweep of the group and a return to League A.
While England is the favorite to win, I certainly don't expect it to come easily. Ireland is a tough squad and will look to play physical with the Three Lions while likely taking a very defensive approach to the match. Going bak to Euro qualifying, when Ireland play big teams, they do a solid job of holding them. In two matches against both the Netherlands and France, they allowed one goal and two goals, though both defensive approaches resulted in limited offense as Ireland scored a total of just one goal in those four matches, thus three of the four stayed Under the total.
England's defense has been fantastic, it's their offense that has kept them from winning. In their first six matches at the Euros, England never allowed more than one goal until their 1-2 loss to Spain in the final. Ireland is a far cry offensively from Spain. This looks like a 1-0 or 2-0 for England.
TAKE UNDER 2.25 GOALS
Line Parameter: 4% to -120, 3% to -140