World Cup Qualifying: Denmark vs Ireland preview

Denmark and Ireland kick off their fight for a place at the 2018 World Cup, the first of the two legs of the play-off will be played at Telia Parken in Copenhagen on Saturday evening. The two teams have last met in a friendly match in 2007, a match in which Ireland recorded a comfortable 4-0 victory. Denmark have not beaten Ireland since 1985, when the two teams met in the World Cup qualifying campaign. Ireland have not won a competitive match in Denmark since 1957. Denmark have been at the World Cup on four occasions but they failed to qualify for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. This time they finished second behind Poland in their qualification group after pulling off a seven-match unbeaten streak. They have conceded just eight goals in their ten group matches and scored 20, a record which indicates that they are a well-balanced team. They are unbeaten in their last nine matches, including friendlies, but they only won two of their last five matches at home. Ireland are looking to reach their fourth World Cup final tournament, they haven't been there since 2002. They were handed a tough qualification group where they had to battle with Serbia, Wales and Austria, but they managed to finish second thanks to a crucial 1-0 victory in Wales in the last group match. They have lost just one of their ten matches in the qualifying campaign and conceded just six goals. However, they only managed to score 12 times in ten matches. David Meyler is suspended for the first leg, while James McCarthy, Richard Keogh and Sean Maguire have been withdrawn from the squad due to injuries. Probable line-ups: Denmark: Schmeichel - Ankersen, Kjaer, Christensen, Knudsen - Delaney, Kvist - Poulsen, Eriksen, Sisto - Bendtner Ireland: Randolph - Christie, Duffy, Clark, Ward - Brady, Hourihane, Whelan, Arter, McClean - Murphy My prediction: Denmark to win 1-0. Here are the odds for the match at Bet365: Denmark win - 1.75 Draw - 3.60 Ireland win - 5.75