Wales vs Northern Ireland Preview, Line-Ups & Betting Tips: Arsenal Star Key

Wales meet local neighbours Northern Ireland in Paris this evening as the two nations compete for a place in the quarter final of Euro 2016.

Wales reached the knockout stages after topping Group B ahead of England following their impressive 3-0 victory over Russia last week with Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey opening the scoring before further goals from Taylor and Gareth Bale.

Northern Ireland on the other hand progressed to the last 16 as one of the four best third-placed teams after coming through an extremely tough Group C that also included Germany, Poland and Ukraine.

Both Wales and Northern Ireland are appearing at the Euro’s for the first time in their history and the winners of tonight’s clash with play either Hungary or Belgium in the last 8, but both nations have done remarkably well to even make it this far so I’m sure we’re in for a great game tonight.

Likely Line-ups

Wales: Hennessey; Gunter, Chester, Williams, Davies, Taylor, Ledley, Ramsey, Allen, Bale, Vokes.

Northern Ireland: McGovern; Hughes, Cathcart, McAuley, J.Evans; C. Evans, Davis, Norwood; Ward, Dallas, Washington.

Predicted Score

Wales 2-0 Norther Ireland: The two sides drew 1-1 the last time they met in a friendly in Cardiff back in March so the Irish have nothing to fear. However, the Welsh were without Gareth Bale that night while Aaron Ramsey looks to be back in top form after a frustrating campaign in North London. I can see the Arsenal midfielder playing a key role tonight as the Irish will probably focus most of their attention on stopping Bale which could leave space for Ramsey to exploit with his late runs in to the box. I fancy the Gunners man to open the scoring again and lead Wales to a 2-0 win.

Betting Tips

Betting hasn’t been easy at the Euro’s so far and it’s always a good idea to do plenty of research and get the best tips before putting your hard-earned money on the line. They guys over at Best Betting Online have some of the best tips around and they can also see Wales winning this game thanks to the experience of Bale and Ramsey.

A 2-0 Wales win can be backed at 15/2 while Ramsey to open the scoring also looks a decent bet at 6/1 and if we combine those bets in a score-cast then we get very tempting odds of 28/1.