Northern Ireland v Bulgaria predictions: Green and White Army set for a boost

Free football tips, best bets and analysis for Northern Ireland v Bulgaria in European World Cup qualifying Group C on Wednesday.

Where to watch

Sky Sports Football, 7.45pm Wednesday

Best bet

Northern Ireland
1pt Evs Betfred

Team news

Northern Ireland
Liam Boyce, Jordan Jones and Conor Washington withdrew from the squad. Jamal Lewis is expected to return from injury.

Bulgaria
Forward Atanas Iliev has recovered from an injury and could feature. Yasen Petrov otherwise has a full squad to choose from.

Match preview

Ian Baraclough can seal his first victory in normal time as Northern Ireland manager at the 11th attempt with a World Cup qualifying win at home to Bulgaria.

Northern Ireland’s performances during Baraclough’s tenure have not been as bad as their results suggest and a visit from Bulgaria provides him with an excellent opportunity.

The Green and White Army were unfortunate not to book a place at Euro 2020 having knocked out Bosnia in a penalty shootout before falling victim to Slovakia.

Since appointing Baraclough, Northern Ireland have twice held Romania, who are 31 places above Bulgaria in the Fifa world rankings, while suffering two one-goal defeats to Austria.

Northern Ireland’s World Cup qualifying campaign kicked off with defeat too, but they asked far more questions of theirwh conquerors Italy than Bulgaria did.

Although beaten 2-0 in Parma, they were competitive, losing the shot count 12-8, and Baraclough was disappointed to be leaving empty-handed.

Bulgaria, however, managed only one shot as they limped to a 2-0 home loss against the Azzuri, which came just three days after another defeat on their own patch to Switzerland.

Yasen Petrov’s side also forced just three shots in the 3-1 reverse to the Swiss, and their problems in forward areas could be intensified at Windsor Park.

The Lions have scored just one goal in their last six competitive away games, which includes firing blanks on trips to Wales and Ireland, and they won't find the challenge of a gutsy Northern Ireland any easier.

Key stat

Bulgaria are winless in nine competitive fixtures.

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