Rep. of Ireland v Greece Prediction, Preview & Odds – Euro 2024 Qualifier

We have a Rep. of Ireland v Greece prediction and preview plus betting odds for you ahead of Friday’s UEFA Euro 2024 Qualifier clash.

How To Watch Republic of Ireland v Greece

When is Rep. of Ireland v Greece?

The Republic of Ireland will play Greece at 7.45pm on Friday, October 13th.

TV Channel

The game will be broadcast live on RTÉ 2 with pre-match coverage beginning at 7pm.

Live Stream

You can stream the game on RTÉ Player.

Where is Rep. of Ireland v Greece Being Played?

The Republic of Ireland will play Greece at the Aviva Stadium in Lansdowne Road, Dublin.

Rep. of Ireland v Greece Odds

Despite recent poor form, the Republic of Ireland are the favourites going into this game at 7/5 in the betting odds.

Greece on the other hand are underdogs at odds of 9/4. The draw can be backed at a similar price of 9/5.

Handicap Betting

Rep. of Ireland: -1 @ 5/1

Greece: +1 @ 1/2

Handicap Draw: -1 @ 14/5

Click Below For Our LIVE Rep. of Ireland v Greece Odds

Republic of Ireland v Greece

Ireland’s Form

Stephen Kenny’s entering this International Window in a very difficult place with four defeats and just two victories in all their 2023 fixtures. With their sole wins coming 3-2 against Latvia in March in their first game of the year and a 3-0 win against Gibraltar in June.

Their qualification credentials have been a mixed bag, following their 3-2 friendly win their account with a spirited 0-1 defeat against France, had it not been for Maignan’s sensational save from a Collins header Ireland would’ve earned a point.

Ireland seemingly found their turning point. However, the June window could prove cataclysmic for Ireland’s qualifying chances losing 2-1 to Greece little solace would’ve been gained from their 3-0 win against Gibraltar

Kenny’s qualifying credentials have been consistently called into question but after that disastrous Greece result, rumours abound that they needed four points from their September games against France and Netherlands to save his job. Despite spirited one-half performances in both games, they lost 2-0 and 1-2 meaning that Kenny looks a goner shortly.

However, Kenny remains at the helm despite his seemingly cat-like nine lives, the consensus is Kenny has till the remainder of his contract that he is gone no matter how positive results transpire.

Thus, it will be interesting to see how Kenny approaches these games and whether he decides to release the shackles, even if most might have given up on Kenny, he will fight to the end for his country and job.

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Greece’s Form

Greece have had a decent 2023 season winning three games, drawing once and losing two games. They opened their season and qualifying campaign with a 0-3 win against Gibraltar (identical victory to Ireland) before drawing 0-0 against Lithuania

They landed a crucial 2-1 victory against their opponents in this one (Republic of Ireland) for their qualifying hopes before falling to a 1-0 defeat against France (again another identical result to Ireland).

During the September window, they fell to a 3-0 defeat against The Netherlands before winning 5-0 against Gibraltar. Greece are currently third in the group level on points with the Netherlands and six clear of the Republic of Ireland.

However, this shows the difference that fine margins make in the game, Greece are six clear of Ireland they’ve also played Gibraltar twice to Ireland’s once. The only thing that differentiates them is their game back in June and because of that, the narrative behind two very similar sides is entirely different right now.

The Greeks won Euro 2004 and are looking to qualify for the competition for the first time since their quarter-final appearance in 2012.

Former Premier League manager Gus Poyet since becoming manager in January 2022 has a win rate of 56.3% from his 16 games in charge, the highest win % of any Greek manager in the modern era with nine wins, two draws and five defeats.

Republic of Ireland v Greece Predicted Lineups

Ireland Predicted XI

Formation: 3-4-2-1

GK: Bazunu

RCB: Collins, CB: Duffy, LCB: Scales

RM: Knight, CM: Molumby, CM: Cullen, CM: Smallbone, LM: Doherty

CF: Ferguson, CF Ogbene

Greece Predicted XI

Formation: 4-2-3-1

GK: Vlachodimos

RB: Rota, CB: Mavropanos, CB: Hatzidiakos, LB: Tsimikas

CM: Kourbelis, CM: Mantalos

RW: Masouras, AM: Pelkas , LW: Pavlidis

CF: Giakoumakis

Republic of Ireland v Greece Preview

Ireland’s Attack

Ireland are likely to adopt their typically conservative 3-5-2 in-possession and 5-3-2 out-of-possession formation. During their first game against Greece in June Ireland held the majority of possession with 51% of the ball despite being away from home.

Ireland will likely dominate the ball again with home advantage but the key to their success will be creating more chances for Evan Ferguson

In their first fixture, Ireland were only able to create an XG of 0.85 from seven shots to the Greeks’ XG of 1.87 from nineteen shots.

Personally, I think Ireland needs to be more direct against the Greeks (could even work out better if they’ve less of the ball) they need to get the ball quickly and direct to the likes of Ogbene and Ferguson to try and catch Greece’s defence off guard.

Greece’s Defence

Greece are likely to either set themselves up in a 4-2-3-1, which they used in the reverse fixture back in June and for games against France and The Netherlands.

They could also continue with the 4-3-3 formation they used against Gibraltar; I’d suspect the latter.

Vlachodimos will be the man in net with Rota and Tsimikas as the backs with the main duo in defence being centre-backs Mavropanos and Hatzidiakos,

Their star CB is Mavropanos who is a complete defender ranking in the 99th percentile for interceptions, 96th percentile for Aerials Won, 90th for Progressive Carries and 88th percentile for Progressive Passes. He will be the man tasked with marking Evan Ferguson.

Mavropanos is a huge part of their attack too. Greece are a direct side and of all players in the Euro Qualifiers his 7.4 Accurate Long Balls Per 90 is only bettered by five players.

Greece’s Attack

Greece are the second-highest goal-scorer in Group B with ten goals scored five more than Ireland, two more than the Netherlands and only one less goal than France. However, that is very misleading considering eight of those have come against Gibraltar and they’re the only team to have played the minnows twice.

To the Greek’s credit in the reverse fixture, they used their 49% possessions to attempt more than double Ireland’s shots with nineteen and creating an XG of 1.87. That showed they can create chances through their direct style.

Winger Masouras comes into this on the back of a brace during the last window against Gibraltar and the Olympiacos player could be their most likely threat on the break.

Ireland’s Defence

Ireland will likely line out with Southampton shot-stopper Bazunu in goal and despite making mistakes for some mistakes for club and country, it’s refreshing to see how his managers have backed him.

The ironic thing is that Bazunu will likely be playing in a stronger defensive structure than he does at Southampton.

With Egan out through injury, Duffy will likely continue in his place in the side despite some very shaky performances for Ireland recently. While his experience is critical to Ireland, he remains a weak point in defence and someone the Greeks will target.

Duffy will likely be partnered by ever-present Collins and the incoming Scales who is playing Champions League football with Celtic

Personally, I can see Knight put in at RWB who always offers a shift in and out of possession with Doherty playing LWB (despite not being deserving in my opinion) due to a potential lack of trust in Manning.

Republic of Ireland v Greece Head-to-Head Results

Greece 2-1 Ireland | 2023 Euro Qualifier

Ireland 0-1 Greece | 2012 International Friendly

Greece 0-0 Ireland | 2002 International Friendly

Ireland 0-1 Greece | 2000 International Friendly

Republic of Ireland v Greece Prediction & Best Bet

Prediction: Republic of Ireland 2-0 Greece

There is very little difference between these sides in terms of quality, I’d even argue that player for player and if Kenny gets his tactics right Ireland remains a superior side to the Greeks.

However, the prevailing narratives behind both sides are completely different despite their only being a kick of the ball and a game against Gibraltar separating these teams objectively.

This is a must, must win for Kenny if he’s going to stand any chance of keeping his job and while I think it’ll be difficult, I can see a big performance from Ireland coming in this one with an Evan Ferguson brace making the difference.

Best Bet: Republic of Ireland -1 @ 9/2

Click Below For Our LIVE Republic of Ireland v Greece Betting Odds

*Prices subject to fluctuation

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