Republic of Ireland vs Belgium: Betting Odds & Prediction

The Republic of Ireland host Belgium in an international friendly on Saturday evening as the away side continue preparations for the summer's European Championships.

Kick-off is set for 5pm UK time at the Aviva Stadium.

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Republic of Ireland

Interim manager John O’Shea is set to take charge of his first match on Saturday after former manager Stephen Kenny opted not to renew his contract with the Irish FA.

The home side have been in poor form in recent years which culminated in a fourth-placed finish in Group B during qualifying. Ireland have only won once in their last six games - a 4-0 victory away to bottom-placed Gibraltar.

Across their eight qualifying matches, they scored just nine goals (1.13 per game) while conceding ten (1.25). Ireland failed to score in four of their eight games, and kept a clean sheet in just two. Their games averaged a total of 2.38 goals overall, though this dropped to 2.25 at home.

They had little trouble creating opportunities though, averaging an expected goal (xG) tally of 1.67 overall, which increased to 1.81 at home. Their defensive projections were a concern though, with an average expected goals against (xGA) tally of 1.27, though this dropped to 1.15 on home soil.

Belgium

Belgium endured another successful qualifying campaign as they finished top of Group F, winning six of their eight matches. The Red Devils were rampant throughout, scoring a total of 22 goals (2.75 per game) while conceding just four (0.5 per game).

They also averaged an impressive xG tally of 1.73 overall, though this dropped to 1.45 when playing on away soil. Belgium were impeccable in defensive columns, recording an average xGA tally of just 0.88 overall, though this did increase quite dramatically to 1.23 on away soil.

They did manage clean sheets in three of their four away matches during qualifying though, and scored in all eight matches on their way to securing a place in Germany.

Prediction

With Belgium’s good form coming into this game, combined with the uncertainty around the Irish, it is hard to look past the away side heading into Saturday.