Northern Ireland welcome Greece to Windsor Park for their opening UEFA Nations League match up on Thursday.
The 2020/21 Nations League campaign couldn’t have been much worse for Ian Baraclough’s men. From six games, they failed to win a single one, drawing two and losing the other four.
Their form of late has been a little inconsistent. Of their last five games, the Green and White Army have won two, lost two and drawn one.
The only competitive win in that time was a 1-0 victory over Lithuania in World Cup qualifying. It was in vain however, as Northern Ireland failed to qualify in the end.
Greece will know the pain Northern Ireland have felt all too well, as they also failed to qualify. The difference is that they were arguably expected to get through the group.
Inconsistency is something that has also plagued Greece of late. They’ve lost three of their last five, winning one and drawing the other.
One of those defeats was at the hands of Spain, which was fairly expected. However, the others, to Sweden and Montenegro, were much more surprising.
The Greek have a chance to get back to winning ways here. With no World Cup to look forward to, they’re likely to take this competition seriously.
Northern Ireland will also have the same mindset going into this. They’ll certainly want to produce a better showing than last year.
We’re expecting a tight, competitive game in Belfast come Thursday night. The home crowd will try to make the difference for their team.
Below, we’ll preview this UEFA Nations League fixture and provide our predictions, the team news, our recommended bets and more…
Northern Ireland vs Greece Predictions
One of the saving graces for Northern Ireland here could be that they are hosting this game. At home, Northern Ireland have only lost one of their last five games.
They have only won one of those games however. All three draws were goalless, so that suggests the hosts have issues finding the net.
Greece are having similar issues themselves, it seems. In their last five matches, they scored just twice. That doesn’t bode well for them as they travel to the UK for this game.
The Greeks have had some recent success on their travels. They’ve won two of their last four away games. The first a 2-0 win over Georgia and the second a 1-0 friendly win over Romania.
That away record also includes defeats to Sweden and Montenegro however, so they’re capable of a poor away performance. Northern Ireland will certainly be taking that as inspiration for this game.
For the hosts, this Nations League campaign is a good opportunity for them to forget about the World Cup. They’ll certainly want to get off to a winning start here and improve on last season’s showing immediately.
With both nations struggling in front of goal, we’re expecting a low scoring affair here. It could well be that the first team to score goes on to win the game.
It is, however, just as likely that this game could end goalless. As both teams seem to be finding goals hard to come by, that isn’t too far fetched.
Whatever happens, we expect both teams to treat this as a proper, competitive fixture. Hopefully that will produce an entertaining game.
Read on for our Northern Ireland vs Greece predictions and best bets.
Northern Ireland vs Greece Head to Head
Since 1961, these two nations have played on six occasions. Northern Ireland have won three and Greece have won the other three. There has never been a draw between these two.
Greece took the first meeting back in ‘61 by a 2-1 scoreline. Northern Ireland avenged that defeat five months later with a 2-0 win of their own.
The Greeks then won the two meetings in qualifying for Euro 2004. A competition that Greece went on to win in the end, shocking hosts Portugal in the final.
It would be over ten years until they would meet again, this time in qualifying for Euro 2016. Northern Ireland surprised many, by winning both games against Greece and topping the qualifying group.
They haven’t met since, and much has changed since they did play each other last. The head to heads probably won’t give us much to go off here.
Northern Ireland Team News – L W D W L
Ian Baraclough has some selection headaches, with a number of first team players out for various reasons. Sheffield Wednesday’s Bailey Peacock-Farrell is expected to start the game in goal for the hosts.
The experienced Jonny Evans is expected to start at the centre of defence. He could be partnered by Arsenal youngster Daniel Ballard.
Ciaron Brown may get the nod to start at left back here. Middlesbrough’s Paddy McNair is expected to start the game at right back.
Steven Davis brings a wealth of experience and is likely to start in midfield. He could be partnered by Alistair McCann and George Saville.
Gavin Whyte and Niall McGinn are likely to provide the attacking width for the hosts. Kilmarnock’s Kyle Lafferty could lead the attacking line.
Greece Team News – L W D L L
Head coach Gus Poyet has plenty to prove to Greece fans and he’s expected to name a strong side here. Our Northern Ireland vs Greece predictions expect Benfica’s Odysseas Vlachodimos to start in goal for the visitors.
Poyet is likely to name four at the back. That could consist of Sheffield United’s George Baldock, Dinos Mavropanos, Giorgos Tzavellas and Liverpool’s Kostas Tsimikas.
A midfield three is likely to sit in front of that defence. It’s likely to be made up of Andreas Bouchalakis, Manolis Siopis and Tasos Bakasetas.
The visitors are expected to also go with three in attack. That attacking trio could consist of Tasos Douvikas, Vangelis Pavlidis and Giorgos Masouras.
Northern Ireland vs Greece Betting Tips
The hosts come into this one as the slight outsiders according to the odds. The traders have them priced at 9/4 to win in our Northern Ireland vs Greece match bets.
These two have never played out a draw. However, a lack of goals from both could be an issue. The draw is priced at 21/10.
The visitors are the slight favourites to get the win here. Despite a poor run of form of late, Greece are priced at 7/5 to get off to a winning start.
All things considered, it’s hard to see either side winning this. It will be competitive, but we think it will end all square.
Northern Ireland vs Greece Recommended Bets
