Northern Ireland v Luxembourg: Back Dardari to fire against over-rated hosts | OneFootball

Northern Ireland v LuxembourgLive on BBC Three

Northern Ireland must recover from Kosice blow

Had Michael O'Neill's Northern Ireland been able to grind out a goalless draw in Kosice against Slovakia, they would still have a chance of nabbing a top-two place. As it is, a stoppage-time winner gave Slovakia a deserved 1-0 victory, but Northern Ireland have a playoff spot anyway via their positive results in the Nations League.

O'Neill must now think carefully about his line-up for this clash with Luxembourg. He wants to build confidence with a positive result, but there'll be a temptation to shuffle his pack, not least because players like Trai Hume and Justin Devenny will be suspended for the March playoff if they are booked in this game.

Northern Ireland already have some absentees ahead of this match. Shea Charles and Ali McCann are both injured, George Saville and Dan Ballard are suspended. It remains to be seen to what extent O'Neill will experiment, with no tangible reward on offer for winning here.

Luxembourg's progress has stalled

There was a spell where it seemed Luxembourg were ready to make a positive step in international football. They have players with experience of top European leagues, and some exciting young talents. However, these qualifiers have been disastrous, with no points collected and only one goal scored.

Luxembourg are rarely thrashed, and their 2-0 home defeat against Germany was a good example. Julian Nagelsmann's team was made to work hard for their win, and the Germany-based pair of Danel Sinani and Aiman Dardari went close to scoring for Luxembourg with the game locked at 0-0.

Indeed, Augsburg's fleet-footed winger Dardari looks a talent. If you look at the 20-year-old's five competitive starts for his country, he has had a shot on target in three of them, and at least two goal attempts in three of the five too. In the reverse fixture against Northern Ireland, he had two shots, one of which was on target.

13/10 to have a shot on target.

O'Neill's men too short to take the win

With little riding on the game and Northern Ireland depleted, there's room to oppose the hosts at 1.6 here. I know Luxembourg's record in these qualifiers is abysmal and they have a poor recent record against Northern Ireland, but there were positive signs against Germany. St Pauli's Danel Sinani and the aforementioned Dardari have the capability to cause some problems in attack.