Republic of Ireland Must Win in Azerbaijan to Keep Faint World Cup Hopes Alive

Azerbaijan vs Ireland - 09/10/2021

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We have plenty of 2022 World Cup qualifying fixtures to look forward to in Europe this week including the meeting between Azerbaijan and Republic of Ireland.

The match will take place at the Bakı Olimpiya Stadionu, Baku with the hosts sitting bottom of Group A on 1 point and the visitors just one place above them, on 2 points.

The writing is already on the wall for Azerbaijan and they cannot qualify for the 2022 World Cup. They come into this match on the back of a 3-0 home defeat at the hand of Portugal last time out.

Azerbaijan were 2-0 down at half-time and conceded a third goal in the second half. That was the fourth straight match without a victory for Azerbaijan following defeats against Luxembourg in World Cup qualifying and Moldova in a friendly, both of which were away from home.

Azerbaijan did manage to pick up a point in the away fixture against Republic of Ireland and will be disappointed they did not take maximum points having conceded an equaliser in the 87th minute.

Azerbaijan have a poor World Cup qualifying record and they have failed to win any of their last 7 World Cup qualifying games. They have picked up just a single victory in their last 13 World Cup qualifying matches and that was at home against San Marino.

Trends show Azerbaijan have conceded at least one goal in each of their last 6 home World Cup qualifying fixtures.

The 2022 World Cup qualifying campaign has been a disaster for Republic of Ireland and the best they can hope to achieve is second place, which realistically, is already out of reach.

The Irish team travel to Baku having picked up a point in a 1-1 draw at home with Serbia last time out. It was onew of the best recent performances by Republic of Ireland but again, the needed a late goal to take a point.

That result means Republic of Ireland have failed to win any of their last 4 games, including a 2-1 defeat at Portugal in World Cup qualifying and a 0-0 draw in a friendly match against Hungary.

Trends show Republic of Ireland have achieved just 3 wins in their 26 most recent games in all competitions.

Looking ahead to the team news and Azerbaijan can call upon Emin Mahmudov, who has 3 goals to his name in this group. The bulk of the squad play in the domestic league, with Ramil Sheydayev of Qarabağ expected to play in attack.

Republic of Ireland are without Alan Browne and Jayson Molumby, who are both suspended. James McClean is the most experienced player in the Ireland squad and it will be interesting to see who starts the game up-front.

Neither team are going to qualify for the World Cup but both will see this as the perfect opportunity to claim their first victory in the group.

Azerbaijan took a point in the reverse fixture but may find Ireland a little tougher this time following their improved performances against Serbia and Portugal.

We do not expect to see many goals in this game and Republic of Ireland could come away with a narrow 1-0 win.

Home team
Away team

Probability %

1X2

Pred

Correct score

Avg. goals

Weather conditions

Coef.

Score

Live
coef.

WCQ

Azerbaijan Ireland 09/10/2021 18:00

223741

2

0 - 1

2.12

15°

2.20

3.60 3.00 2.20 -1 -1 1

FT

0 - 3(0 - 2)

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- - -