Wales v Northern Ireland: Editors’ betting tip

Nobody can now doubt Wales’s quality and they’ve shown themselves to be a solid team, one who can fight with any opponent. Ledley and Allen are able to control the midfield, while Ramsey and Bale are causing problems going forward. Their result against Russia (3:0) confirmed the desire to move forward in this competition.

They’ve scored in each of the three games during the group stage and this is what those goals looked like:

• direct free kick by Bale (1:0 vs Slovakia),
• shot by Robson-Kanu after Ramsey assist (2:1 vs Slovakia),
• direct free kick by Bale (1:0 vs England),
• shot by Ramsey after the spearing pass by Allen (1:0 vs Russia),
• shot by Taylor after Shirokov’s unlucky clearance (2:0 vs Russia),
• shot by Bale after a spearing pass by Ramsey (3:0 vs Russia).

More to say, Bale had a good number of chances forged by his solo runs against Russia, all denied by the goalkeeper. He’s now the joint top-scorer of the tournament (alongside with Morata) and looks ready to crush any defence. He’s fired up and looks a threat whenever he receives the ball in the attacking third. We can go for his goal against Northern Ireland at 6/4.

The bookmakers think that this game will definitely be short on goals (under 2.5 goals is 7/20 only). This is partly down to the nature of the tournament overall so far and partly because of Northern Ireland’s playing style. They’ve conceded only two (!) goals in two games against Poland and title holders Germany. This is quite a remarkable feat and it shows their extra-defensive style. This can be effective with leaving the ball to the opponent, but now they face a team with a similar style – Wales. Wales have fast players who are especially threatening on the counter attack, and their main weapon is shots from Bale’s left foot. Even though Wales don’t always dominate possession, they are likely to do so here. With this in mind it would be no surprise to see Northern Ireland concede numerous fouls in their defensive third. Bale will surely be sharpening his free kicks ahead of this one. Wales to win in 90 minutes and Bale to score at a juicy 5/2 is a good secondary bet.

Enhanced odds! To get ‘Bale To Score & Wales To Win’ at 5/2 (was 21/10) click here.