Ireland v Belgium predictions: Inexperienced Red Devils should still prevail

Free football tips, best bets and analysis for the international friendly between Ireland and Belgium on Saturday.

Where to watch

Sky Sports Premier League, 5pm Saturday

Best bet

Belgium to win and both teams to score
1pt 3-1 general

Team news

Ireland
First choice keeper Gavin Bazunu is out with illness while Darragh Lenihan and Enda Stevens are injured.

Belgium
No player with 50 or more caps has been selected for this squad, meaning Thibaut Courtois, Jan Vertonghen, Axel Witsel, Kevin De Bruyne, Eden Hazard and Romelu Lukaku miss out.

Match preview

Ireland’s 1-0 loss to Luxembourg in March last year marked a low point in Stephen Kenny’s tenure as manager but since then the Boys in Green have lost just once in ten games, conceding twice in the last five minutes away to Portugal.

Their improved performances weren’t enough to seriously challenge in their World Cup qualification group, however, and their long-term focus now turns to qualification for the 2024 Euros.

Perhaps more importantly, Ireland appear to have found their shooting boots, scoring ten times in their last four games. Kenny’s men have also kept four clean sheets in those games so host Belgium with a renewed sense of optimism about their direction of travel.

Belgium sit top of the Fifa rankings and qualified comfortably for Qatar, which is almost certainly the last major tournament for their golden generation after they were knocked out of Euro 2020 in the quarter-finals by eventual winners Italy.

In a look to the future, Roberto Martinez has imposed a rule on his squad for this friendly and the following game against Burkina Faso excluding any player with 50 or more caps.

That means Kevin De Bruyne, Romelu Lukaku and Eden Hazard are absent while Martinez gets a look at his less experienced players.

Ireland are also likely to use this game as an opportunity to test youngsters such as Jayson Molumby, Jason Knight and Troy Parrott against a top side.

With the home side’s renewed optimism and improved goalscoring record Kenny’s men are fancied to get on the scoresheet against a Belgium backline in which only two players have ten or more caps.

Despite their inexperience, there are still a wealth of attacking options for Martinez to choose from and the team ranked top in the world may eventually prove too strong.

Key stat

Ireland have scored ten times in their last four games

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