Belarus VS Northern Ireland Match Prediction
- 2019-06-11
- 18:45:00
Northern Ireland will win this match.
Northern Ireland’s 2-1 win back in March was only their second ever match against Belarus. The other was a 3-0 friendly win in 2016. In March’s fixture, Jonny Evans opened the scoring only for Igor Stasevich to cancel it out. Josh Magennis popped up with a late winner, however.
Michael O’Neill has stressed in the build-up to the current set of qualifiers, that Northern Ireland had to take all six available points.
They have upheld their first part of that bargain, despite making some hard work of beating Estonia last time out.
Northern Ireland have beaten Estonia twice now, either side of their win against Belarus, with Josh Magennis scoring a winning goal against each of them.
Magennis could be the key figure again, against a Belarus team whose own form does not inspire confidence.
They have lost all three matches so far and should not prove a threat to a Northern Ireland team who have tougher games to come.
One thing O’Neill has done well with Northern Ireland is remove the tendency to slip up in games like this.
If they are to hold a genuine chance of beating Netherlands or Germany to one of their qualifying positions they need to win games such as this one.
But their form is good, results-wise at least, and they can make it four qualifying wins from four with a professional performance.
Northern Ireland are favourites to beat Belarus but can still be backed at 7/4 to win with Ladbrokes.
Belarus did score when they last met, however, and Northern Ireland conceded first in their most recent game too. Both teams to score has been set at 23/20 with Ladbrokes and Betfair.
Northern Ireland to win and BTTS is worth 6/1 with Betfair and Paddy Power. You can also back there being over 2.5 goals at 17/10 with Bet365 and Betfair.
Josh Magennis has scored vital goals in Northern Ireland’s last two matches but he is still 4/1 with Betfair and Paddy Power.
Northern Ireland have won three from three so far and are expected to make it four in a row when they travel to Belarus.
Veteran midfielder and Belarussian icon Alexander Hleb is among the players missing from the reverse fixture against Northern Ireland. Anton Putsila is another, while Syarhey Balanovich was one of the players to miss out after being named in the preliminary squad.
Stanislav Drahun – The experienced BATE Borisov man has 10 goals in 59 appearances in midfield.
Igor Shitov – Hugely experienced defender will win his 66th cap in defence and will look to keep Josh Magennis and co out.
Denis Laptsev – Still waiting on his first international goal but led the line against Germany and will be keen to enjoy a run in the team.
After closing their UEFA Nations League campaign with away wins in Luxembourg and San Marino, Belarus have subsequently lost all three Euro 2020 qualifiers so far. A 4-0 defeat in the Netherlands was followed by a 2-1 loss in the reverse fixture against Northern Ireland – Josh Magennis scored the late winner. Last time out, Belarus fell to a 2-0 defeat to Germany.
After their goal-scoring impact from the bench, Josh Magennis and Conor Washington could start this time out. Kyle Lafferty was an unused sub last time out, while Will Grigg is not even in the squad.
Josh Magennis – Two goals in his last two Northern Ireland appearances – winners against Belarus and Estonia.
Conor Washington – Also netted last time out, levelling the scores against Estonia, for his fourth international goal.
Steven Davis – The veteran midfielder has scored 12 times for his country, most recently at the start of Euro 2020 qualifying, in 110 appearances in total.
Northern Ireland have won all three Euro 2020 qualifiers so far. Niall McGinn and Steven Davis scored in a 2-0 home win against Estonia, while Jonny Evans and Josh Magennis netted against Belarus when these sides last met. Most recently, Conor Washington scored and Magennis added a late winner.