EURO 2020 ended with a clash between England and Italy at Wembley and fate has thrown the two nations together again as they begin the road to Germany 2024.
The Azzurri have been something of a bogey team for the English in recent years, going six matches unbeaten in this fixture.
But four of those matches ended in draws and McBookie price another stalemate tonight in Naples at 11/5.
It might be safer backing the draw to be level at half-time and that pays evens with the same firm.
I also like the 11/10 on offer at Paddy Power for Italy to have most cards as that bet has landed in the three meetings.
Michael O’Neill is back as Northern Ireland boss and has a fairly simple opener away to San Marino.
McBookie make the Irish 1/20 hot favourites and even a win to nil pays just 2/5 with Paddy Power.
The scorer markets aren’t much better, with all of O’Neill’s strikers odds-on, so I’m going for corners instead.
Northern Ireland -5 in the corner handicap pays 5/6 at Bet365 while over 7.5 corners for O’Neill’s side is 6/5 at Paddy Power.
Denmark host Finland in the same group and will be out to make amends for a terrible World Cup.
The Danes are evens at Coral to be winning at half-time and full-time which looks decent value.
Portugal should fill their boots at home to Liechtenstein but most of their main men are heavy odds-on to score.
The assist market is better and Joao Felix is 11/10 at McBookie to set up a strike.
- Super singles: Italy most cards (11/10, P Power). Denmark HT-FT (Evens, Coral).
- McBookie bet builder: Combining the HT draw in Naples with over 0.5 first-half cards pays 142/100.
I'm a sports journalist, football tipster and author from Dundee, who is now working in Glasgow. I've covered games at every level, from Junior football to internationals, and still love football even though it has clearly sold its soul. I've been in football tipping since 2018 with the MFT site.
