Slovenia vs Northern Ireland betting tips: Blunt visitors to suffer familiar fate in Ljubljana
Benjamin Sesko
Northern Ireland face a must-win Euro 2024 qualifier when they travel to Slovenia on Thursday.
Date, KO time and TV coverage
Euro 2024 qualifiers, Thursday, September 7, Kick-off 7.45pm, live on Viaplay Sports 1
Predicted score
Slovenia 2-0 Northern Ireland
Suggested bets
Slovenia to win
Slovenia to win to nil
Slovenia vs Northern Ireland team news
Dangerman Benjamin Sesko, who has two in two for RB Leipzig this season, highlights the difference in quality between the sides.
The hosts could welcome back captain Jan Oblak between the sticks and could hand starts to the highest-scoring players in the squad, Miha Zajc and Andraz Sporar.
Steven Davis, Corry Evans and Stuart Dallas remain long-term absentees and those injuries have damaged Michael O’Neill’s chances in his second term.
Josh Magennis and Connor Washington have also recently struggled with injury and now Shayne Lavery, Dale Taylor and Connor Bradley are set to miss out here
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Paddy McNair and Jonny Evans will have crucial roles to play in defence while the trio of Magennis, Washington and Dion Charles will be tasked with finding goals.
Slovenia vs Northern Ireland preview
If Northern Ireland didn’t have bad luck then they’d have no luck at all. They’ve suffered three consecutive 1-0 losses in qualifying and suffered due to injuries.
Victory against San Marino was to be expected but a 97th-minute equaliser in Denmark was not in the script and it isn’t in the history books after VAR intervened.
Slovenia find themselves fourth in the group on seven points, just two behind second-place Kazakhstan, while Northern Ireland are teetering on the edge.
They could do with a win in Ljubljana but this doesn’t look like an easy fixture. The hosts have held Denmark here and have beate Kazakhstan on their travels.
However, they are prone to blunders against lower-ranking sides. They’ve lost just three of their previous 23 home matches but have been held to eight draws in that time.
Cyprus, Azerbaijan, Malta and Latvia have all frustrated them in qualifiers and Michael O’Neill’s side will be looking to keep things tight and seize their moment.
They’ve done no worse than come out on the wrong side of a one-goal margin in 21 of their last 23 outings, but that’s largely because they struggle in these types of games.
The hosts are putting together a solid qualifying campaign and while the visitors may frustrate them, it’s worth noting they’ve lost seven of 10 on their travels and conceded at least two in six of those.
