After being handed a narrow 3-2 defeat away from home at Czech Republic in their opening match in Group A, Saturday’s hosts, Republic of Ireland, will be seeking all three points when they return to their Aviva Stadium to take on minnows, Luxembourg.
The hosts not only look to get their campaign off the ground but also end a miserable run of results.
Great to have our leader back on the pitch 🇮🇪What a performance from Seamie ♥️#WEAREONE | #COYBIG | #SRBIRL pic.twitter.com/kai9ttPQLQ— FAIreland ⚽️🇮🇪 (@FAIreland) March 25, 2021
Great to have our leader back on the pitch 🇮🇪What a performance from Seamie ♥️#WEAREONE | #COYBIG | #SRBIRL pic.twitter.com/kai9ttPQLQ
The Irish have now failed to win any of their last 10 matches in all competitions which includes six defeats but only one of these losses was actually inflicted upon them on home soil.
A 1-0 loss to Finland back in September of last year in the Nations League.
Results at home in World Cup qualifiers have produced a much more positive return though for the Ireland as they’ve lost just twice in their last seven qualifiers with losses to Serbia and Denmark.
However, the hosts have also picked up victories over Kazakhstan, Georgia and Moldova in 3-1, 1-0 and 2-0 wins respectively.
While their previous four meetings against Luxembourg have produced four wins for the Irish, so the hosts look in good shape to get off the mark here.
Luxembourg weren’t in action on Matchday 1 of the World Cup qualifiers but have recently played Qatar in a friendly which ended in a 1-0 defeat for Saturday’s visitors which makes it four matches without a win in all competitions.
Luxembourg had previously registered encouraging wins against Cyprus and Montenegro in the Nations League back in October of last year, but they’ve since slumped to three defeats out of their subsequent four matches having lost to Austria, Cyprus and Qatar along with a draw with Azerbaijan.
The bigger picture however, shows that Luxembourg have won just three of their last 19 matches in all competitions and this record worsens even further when looking at Luxembourg’s results away from home in World Cup qualifiers.
The visitors have failed to win any of their last 14 qualifiers away from home and indeed, have managed to win just once away from home in their international footballing history in World Cup qualifiers, a record that spans some 67 matches on the road.
The prospects of an Irish win here on Saturday therefore look extremely likely.