Euro 2020 qualifiers: Thursday football betting preview, free tips & TV details

Where to watch

Sky Sports Football and red button, from 3pm Thursday

Best bets

Austria-Austria double result
1pt 23-20 Coral, Hills, Ladbrokes
North Macedonia +0.25 on Asian handicap
1pt 37-40bet365
Belarus to win to nil
1pt 21-20general

Verdicts

Austria v Israel (7.45pm)

Israel have never qualified for the European Championship finals and their hopes of reaching Euro 2020 could be left hanging by a thread by a defeat to Austria in Vienna.

Group C is getting extremely tight with five points covering the top five teams but third-placed Austria have got themselves into a decent position, despite losing their opening two matches at home to Poland (0-1) and away to Israel (2-4).

Israel made a much better start, taking seven points from their first three games, but performances have tailed off and they struggled last month, drawing 1-1 at home to North Macedonia and losing 3-2 away to Slovenia.

Andi Herzog's side are three points outside the qualification places and are under pressure to target maximum points against Austria to get back on track.

However, an open game would probably suit the Austrians, who should gain the ascendancy by half-time and go on to win comfortably.

North Macedonia v Slovenia (7.45pm)

North Macedonia are guaranteed the safety net of a Euro 2020 playoff place but are refusing to give up on automatic qualification from Group C and can stay in the mix by taking at least a point at home to Slovenia.

With four games to go second-placed Slovenia are in a decent position but they can take nothing for granted against the Macedonians, who held them to a 1-1 draw in Ljubljana in March.

North Macedonia climbed to fourth last month after drawing 1-1 away to Israel and winning 2-0 away to the section's whipping boys Latvia.

Reaching the top two is still a long shot but North Macedonia seem to be steadily improving and look value in receipt of a 0.25 start on the Asian handicap, guaranteeing backers a half-stakes profit should they draw and a full-stakes profit if they win.

Belarus v Estonia (5pm)

Estonia have failed to score in seven of their last nine away games and may struggle to find the net against Belarus in Minsk.

Both teams are out of the running for a top-two finish in Group C but Belarus have the playoffs to look forward to after finishing top of Group Two in Nations League D.

They kept clean sheets in all of their six Nations League matches and should defeat and shut out the Estonians, who lost 8-0 away to Germany on their last road trip.

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