Austria v Republic of Ireland Betting Tips

Austria host the Republic of Ireland on Saturday in arguably the most competitive World Cup qualifying group in Europe.

Austria had a phenomenal qualifying campaign in the run-up to Euro 2016 with nine straight wins, dropping points just once in their first match at home to Sweden. However, they had a terrible tournament in France as they finished bottom of their group with just a solitary point after three matches. After being tipped by some to be a dark horse that could go all the way, this was pretty embarrassing for the Austrians.

Despite this failure in the summer, Swiss manager Marcel Koller kept his job on the basis of his fantastic qualification record. After such a great run in European qualifying, the quest for a place at the World Cup in 2018 has not got off to the best of starts. They won their first match away in Georgia, but have since drawn at home to Wales and lost away to group leaders Serbia.

As previously mentioned, Group D the most competitive of all the UEFA qualifying groups and so Austria need to get back on track if they want to finish top of the pile.

The Austrians are certainly capable of scoring goals and have great attacking talents in the likes of Stoke City’s Marko Arnautovic and 33-year-old veteran Marc Janko. Unfortunately it is the other end of the pitch where there are problems which is surprising when you consider they only conceded five goals in 10 qualifying matches for Euro 2016. Koller’s men are still yet to keep a clean sheet in World Cup qualifying so far.

Going into this match against Ireland, Austria will take confidence from their incredible home record. As previously mentioned, they won every single home qualifying match bar one before Euro 2016, whilst they only lost one home qualifier (to eventual World champions and neighbours Germany) in the build-up to the 2014 World Cup.

However, if there is a team that likes to spoil a party and cause surprises, it is the Republic of Ireland. We saw it in the Euro 2016 qualification play-off when they upset favourites Bosnia & Herzegovina to make it to France where they went on to beat former World Champions Italy in the Group Stage. Unfortunately France proved too much for Martin O’Neill’s men in the first knockout round as the Irish flew home after a 2-1 defeat to the hosts.

Whilst Group D is the most competitive group in the World Cup qualifiers, you would still consider the Republic of Ireland outsiders. However, despite this underdog tag, the Irish have started their campaign very well and sit second in the group after two wins against Georgia and Moldova respectively, as well as a draw away at group leaders Serbia – a fine result.

The problem with Ireland has tended to be inconsistency throughout their various qualifying campaigns, which is why the usually end up having to come through the dreaded play-offs. With no defeats in their opening three matches, perhaps things are starting to change.

One thing that is not changing however is the behaviour of Assistant Manager Roy Keane. The former midfielder, who famously walked out on the team at the 2002 World Cup, has lambasted Everton and their manager Ronald Koeman’s training methods which Keane believes are causing numerous injuries to key Irish players.

Although Ireland do like to spoil a party, given their home record it would take a brave person to not back Austria here. The Austrians are just too good on their own patch and should be able to see off the challenge of the Irish. I am somewhat surprised that some bookmakers are offering a profit on a home win and the best rate you can get is 21/20 – certainly worth a shot in the circumstances.

Even though I expect Austria to win, I do not think it will be entirely comfortable for them with perhaps just one or two goals in it. Overall a low-scoring game is expected. Neither team are the most expansive, but Austria, especially at home, have extra quality in that final third. With this in mind, ‘Austria to Win & Under 3.5 Goals’ is a good way to go.

Even a 2-1 victory for the home side will see you through here and I think the price of 7/5 is incredibly generous.

The last match between these two in Austria was very recent in another World Cup qualifier back in 2013. That game finished 1-0 to the Austrians and a similar scoreline is expected on Saturday.

See more tips here.