Bulgaria vs Ireland Prediction & Betting Tips - UEFA Nations League

Prediction published on 01/09/2020, 01:18  by Daniel Ngulu | Modified on 01/09/2020 at 01:24 in UEFA Nations League Predictions

Bulgaria and Ireland will be playing in League B of the 2020/21 UEFA Nations League and were drawn in Group 4, with Bulgaria hosting Ireland in the opening round. There were fears the match could be affected by the existing restrictions due to coronavirus but it has been confirmed the match will be staged in Sofia. The last time these two nations faced off was a friendly match in September 2019, where Ireland won 3-1. That win extended Ireland’s unbeaten run against Bulgaria to five matches and they have scored in each of the last seven meetings with Bulgaria. The hosts here were promoted from League B after finishing second in their group and will be hoping to keep rising. However, their recent run has not been very inspiring; they failed to win any of their last three Nations League matches and head to this game on one win in 14 matches across all competitions. Bulgaria’s last outing was at home to Belarus in a February friendly game, and that ended in a 1-0 loss, leaving the team with three losses in their last five matches, and having failed to score in four of the five. In their last 14 matches, Bulgaria have scored more than one goal on only one occasion. Performances at home have also not been great; Bulgaria have managed just one home win in the last seven matches and they failed to score in three of the last four matches at home.

Ireland, on the other hand, stayed in League B of the competition after finishing bottom of their group in the last Nations League campaign. They failed to register a win in the four matches they played and will be hoping for a better run this time. They are in a better form compared to Bulgaria ahead of this game, having lost just once in their last 12 matches and with five wins in their last 10 matches. They have four clean sheets and have failed to score in just two of their last 10 matches. Ireland did not score in their final three Nations League matches in the inaugural competition but then they faced much stronger opponents than Bulgaria. As the seek to improve on that, they will also be concerned about their away form, which has seen them win only one of their last 10, and that was against Gibraltar.