Northern Ireland VS San Marino Match Prediction

Northern Ireland have won both of their previous competitive meetings against San Marino, which bodes well for their chances of getting a positive result in this game. 

Both of the matches were during the qualifying campaign for the 2010 World Cup, with Northern Ireland 4-0 winners at home and 3-0 winners away, while San Marino had a player sent off in both games. Kyle Lafferty and Steven Davis, both likely to play in Saturday's game at Windsor Park, were both on the scoresheet in San Marino's last visit to Northern Ireland, back in 2008.

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Northern Ireland v San Marino: Prediction

Anything apart from a very comfortable Northern Ireland win would be a big shock here, with San Marino usually providing the opposition with a straightforward three points. Northern Ireland are unbeaten at home since 2013, a record that boosts their chances here. The only question is over how many goals Northern Ireland are able to score, with San Marino likely to defend deep.

Northern Ireland v San Marino: Betting Tips

Northern Ireland's best odds to win Saturday's Group C fixture are 1/25, showing how confident the bookmakers are of them taking all three points from the visit of San Marino. The minnows can be backed at a gigantic price of 150/1, but even those odds are not good value according to our Northern Ireland v San Marino betting tips, while the draw is available at 22/1 for this game.

The handicap market could be the best way to get value out of backing Northern Ireland here. Odds of 1/3 on Northern Ireland -2 look to be a safe bet and 5/6 on Northern Ireland -3 should also land. Those expecting a much easier home win could even take Northern Ireland -4 at 7/4.

A 0-0 draw in Czech Republic was a good start to Group C for Northern Ireland, who will be targeting second place in Group C behind the section's runaway favourites Germany. 

Scoring goals is likely to be the main concern for Northern Ireland, but Kyle Lafferty does a fine job leading the line for his country despite his lack of minutes for his club, Norwich City. Southampton's Steven Davis is the driving force in the Northern Ireland midfield.

Northern Ireland likely XI:

San Marino are arguably the weakest team in World Cup qualifying in Europe, but they only lost 1-0 to Azerbaijan in their Group C opener. Right-back Cristian Brolli is not available for this match due to his red card in that match, however. 40-year-old forward Andy Selva is the only player in the San Marino squad to have scored more than a single international goal, but his advanced age means a place on the bench is likely to be his role for this match.

San Marino likely XI:

This should be a great chance for Northern Ireland to boost their goal difference after a 0-0 draw in their opening Group C clash. San Marino\'s defensive resilience is not good enough to keep out most teams and Northern Ireland\'s forwards will be licking their lips at this opportunity to boost their goal tallies. It should be an easy home win by a few clear goals.

San Marino have only scored a single goal in their last 13 international matches.