IRELAND broke their barren scoring drought, but still suffered a disappointing start to their World Cup campaign with midweek defeat in Serbia, but they surely must get back on track when Luxembourg visit Dublin.
Stephen Kenny's long wait for an international win since his appointment last April goes on, but they did at least break a seven-game blank in Belgrade as they blew a one-goal lead to eventually lose 3-2.
While Ireland were going down to the Serbians, Luxembourg lost 1-0 in a friendly in Debrecen, Hungary to World Cup hosts Qatar, but one of the traditional minnows of European football are no mugs.
They've won three games already this season – they triumphed away in Azerbaijan and Montenegro and beat Cyprus at home in the Nations League which are three results that plenty of countries in Europe would be happy with.
But the reality is if the Boys in Green have any hopes whatsoever about getting to the 2022 World Cup, they simply have to win and win well.
How the bookies view it
Ireland are favourites, but maybe not as strong good things as you might expect. They are 4/9 with Hill's. Luxembourg are 7/1 with McBookie.com and the draw is 7/2 with Tonybet.
Recent head to heads
The sides have never met before.
Here's Ireland's defeat in Belgrade though…
Players to watch
Shane Long is the obvious choice for goals here with his tally of 17 goals in 86 appearances respectable enough. He's 7/4 with bet365 to score anytime.
For the visitors, Maurice Deville is their main striker. He plays with Saarbrucken in the third tier of Germany football and he's 4/1 with the same firm to add to his three international goals.
Anything else catch the eye
Luxembourg rarely take a beating. They are well organised and experienced with a settled squad – 12 of their squad have 30 caps or more. You need to go back four years when they last took a real hammering when Sweden beat them 8-0 in a World Cup qualifier.
And given Ireland's well-publicised inability to score themselves, it's unlikely to be a goal-fest, especially as they have now gone 12 games without a win. However, an Ireland win and under 2.5 goals is a perfectly fair 21/10 with bet365. Under 2.5 goals and both teams to score: No is also an option at 21/20.
Luxembourg won an impressive 11 corners on their own in their last match against Qatar and only once in their last nine games have they got lower than four corners. Ireland also won six in their game in Belgrade. So the 11/8 with Unibet for over 10.5 corners is a goer.
This World Cup match between Ireland and Luxembourg will be played on Mar 27, 2021 and kick off at 19:45. Check below for our tipsters best Ireland vs Luxembourg prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
