Ukraine vs Northern Ireland
With a match against Germany to come it is near enough do or die for Northern Ireland on Thursday afternoon when they go up against Ukraine in Lyon.
Both sides lost their opening match of the tournament so there is pressure on them both to get up and running for the competition but there isn’t a need to panic in Ukraine’s case as they’ve got the hardest match of the group out of the way.
Quite how the Ukraine never scored against Germany I don’t think anyone truly knows. Certainly for 20 minutes they had Germany right on the ropes and looked a really good side. They need to be more clinical in this match but they shouldn’t be too downhearted with their performance.
Ukraine looked solid enough defensively which will give them the confidence and perhaps more importantly the platform to build attacks from and I wouldn’t be surprised if we see an even better performance from them here.
Key Man
Andriy Yarmolenko wasn’t at his best in the Germany game but he will be up against a full back who could be very exposed here so he automatically becomes a big threat. He is a goal provider and a scorer of goals and if Ukraine win this he’s likely to have had a major say.
It was a nervy performance from Northern Ireland first up I think it is fair to say. We shouldn’t hold that against them. It was a massive occasion but from their point of view you would like to think that now they have had a chance to sample what it is like they will settle down and give this a real good go.
Kyle Lafferty lacked support against Poland and the set-pieces weren’t up to the standard they usually were so the Irish know the areas they need to improve on going into this match but they’re the ones under all the pressure for me here.
Key Man
Kyle Lafferty is the man capable of firing a goal out of nowhere and against this stubborn Ukraine defence that could be exactly what is needed here. He is an aerial threat too so if Northern Ireland can get quality deliveries into the box he could be the one who benefits most.
Team News
I’d be surprised if Ukraine make too many changes for this match. They might alter things around in midfield and see if they can find a little bit of extra creativity but apart from that everything looked about right they just played a really good side.
Northern Ireland have to get Lafferty more support so Jamie Ward could begin this match having come off the bench in the previous one. If he doesn’t start we could be seeing the man who is supposedly on fire – Will Grigg.
Head to Head
Just the four previous meetings between these two and Northern Ireland are looking for their first win. Ukraine have won twice and there have been two draws. That is clearly a record the Ulstermen will need to change if their hopes of qualification are to stay alive.
Betting
Unlike in the England game I think we’ve got a potential stalemate occurring here. I say that because both set up to be defensively tight and hit the opposition on the counter attack and that isn’t ideal for a match of this importance where nerves are automatically going to tighten everything up.
I will be interested in Northern Ireland’s formation here. Ukraine are likely to only play one up front through the middle so you would think three centre backs are a waste of time but do they have the full backs to take care of Yarmolenko and Konoplyanka? I’m not convinced they do.
I do think this will be tight throughout. Both will probably try and win this on the counter and it could be that the extra quality is what decides it. I believe it is Ukraine who have that quality so I’ll take them to win but to do it by the odd goal.
Tips
Back Ukraine to win by 1 goal for a 3/10 stake at 3.30 with 188bet
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