Germany vs Northern Ireland Predictions

Northern Ireland have already been forced to wait for the play-offs for Euro 2020, having failed to beat the Dutch in Belfast at the weekend. Their missed penalty cost them in a 0-0 draw, leaving them with nothing to play for when they head to Germany this week. However, the hosts are in a different boat, as they need to get a result to stay in front of the Dutch and secure a higher seeding at Euro 2020.

The hosts qualified for the tournament at the weekend, having opened up their gap over NI. Of course, that’s just the first step for a Germany side who had a terrible 2018. Their World Cup failure and Nations League struggles mean they’re trying to rebuild ahead of the summer. However, their recent loss at home to the Dutch showed there are still problems, especially in defence.

The Northern Irish should be confident about causing problems for the German defence. After all, they took the lead in Amsterdam recently and very nearly did the same at home to the Netherlands at the weekend. Now the Ulstermen are hoping to pick up a result against Germany to give themselves a bit of a boost ahead of their play-off clash in March. It could also be Michael O’Neill’s penultimate game in charge, so there’s a lot on the line.

There’s little time for sentiment for the visiting manager, who has to prepare his side for a test. The Germans have scored twice or more in the last seven meetings between them outside major tournaments. That’s likely to continue this week, with Germany hitting 24 goals in just seven games. They’ve scored seven across the last two alone, while five of their last six have seen over 2.5 goals.

NI have scored in seven of their last eight away Euro qualifiers, including every one in this group. They head here to face a German side who will likely be too strong in the end, but we expect the visitors to show some grit and they should make life difficult for the 2014 World Cup winners. We’re going for Germany’s goal streak to continue, as a home win and over 2.5 goals is our pick.

We’re backing O’Neill’s men to suffer a 3-1 defeat on Tuesday night, as we expect their recent winless run in the group to be extended. The Germans have won by at least two goals against NI in seven of their last eight matches. Almost all the Germans’ victories in this campaign have come by a couple of goals, while NI’s track record of scoring on their travels has left us confident in going with 3-1 to the home side as our correct score prediction.