On Sunday, Northern Ireland plays Finland in Group H of the 2024 European Championship qualifiers at Windsor Park.The visitors, who have lost their last five games across all competitions, will want to get their campaign back on track.
With their 2-0 victory over San Marino on Thursday, Northern Ireland got off to a flying start in their competition for a spot in Germany.This came after a disappointing campaign in the UEFA Nations League the year before, when Michael O’Neill’s team finished third in League C with just five points from six games.
Northern Ireland will try to improve on their midweek performance, but they have only won once since November 2021.Aside from Finland, their qualifying campaign began on Thursday with a disappointing 3-1 defeat to Denmark.
Atalanta striker Rasmus Winther Hjlund scored a hat trick to hand Kasper Hjulmand’s team a comfortable victory, undoing the Huuhkajat.Since drawing with North Macedonia and Norway in consecutive friendlies in November, Finland have lost three games in a row.
Match details :
- Northern Ireland v Finland
- Euro Qualification Europe
- Date – 26/03/2023
- Starting time – 18:45 UTC
Prediction :
Northern Ireland has a slight advantage going into Sunday’s matches based on previous encounters. We believe that O’Neill’s team will build on their opening-day victory and defeat the visitors, albeit by a goal or two.
Head to head :
Northern Ireland has a slight advantage in this matchup’s history with four victories from the last seven meetings.In that time, Finland has only won one more game, and the spoils have been split twice.Since a 1-0 defeat in February 2003, Northern Ireland has not lost against Finland in their last four games, winning two and drawing two.
Since November 2021, O’Neill’s team has won just one of their last five home games, drawn two, and lost twice.Since their 2-0 victory over Montenegro in September, Finland have not won in five matches across all competitions.
Team news :
O’Neill acknowledged after the game that he was managing the game time of Conor Washington and Josh Magennis, but he may select the same Northern Ireland XI as on Thursday.The latter may receive the nod in this instance, but San Marino’s decision to allow players to rest during the final quarter was made with this match in mind.
Shea Charles, a young player for Manchester City who has yet to make a senior club appearance, should return to the center of the midfield.Kanerva is additionally improbable to excessively fiddle with his Finland side given the record that they gave of themselves in Copenhagen.
Betting tips :
- Northern Ireland has won two of the last five meetings, drawing two, and losing one.
- In a game against Finland, Northern Ireland scores 1.6 goals, while Finland scores 1.4 goals against Northern Ireland.
- When Northern Ireland and Finland meet, the average number of goals is 3.
- In meetings between Northern Ireland and Finland, the average number of goals scored in the first half is 1.6.
- Last time out, both teams lost.
- Finland scores one goal when playing away from home, while Northern Ireland scores one goal when playing at home.
Lineups :
Northern:
Peacock-Farrell;
Ballard, Cathcart, Brown;
Bradley, McNair, S. Charles, Saville, Lewis;
Magennis, D. Charles
Finland:
Hradecky;
Alho, Vaisanen, Ivanov, Jensen;
Lod, Kairinen, Kamara, Antman;
Pohjanpalo, Pukki
Where to watch :
| Country | Channels |
| United Kingdom | BoxNation |
| Germany | DAZN, DAZN2 |
| United States | Fox Soccer Plus, ViX |
| France | Molotov, Free, L’Equipe, L’Equipe Web |
| Nepal | SONY TEN 3 HD, Sony LIV, SONY TEN 3 |
| India | JioTV, SONY TEN 3 HD, SONY TEN 3, Sony LIV |
| Sri Lanka | Sony LIV, SONY TEN 3, SONY TEN 3 HD |