World Cup European qualifier match predictions & tips

Free football tips, best bets and analysis for Tuesday's European World Cup qualifiers.

Where to watch

Sky Sports from 5pm

Best bets

Norway
2pts 17-20 Betfred

Portugal & under 3.5 goals
1pt 3-4BoyleSports

Montenegro v Norway

Norway's hopes of appearing at a World Cup finals for the first time since 1998 were severely damaged by a 3-0 loss to Turkey on Saturday but they should bounce back with a victory over Montenegro.

Turkey share top spot in Group G alongside Montenegro, who have opened up with victories away to Latvia (2-1) and at home to Gibraltar (4-1).

But there is plenty of time third-placed Netherlands and fourth-placed Norway to return to contention in a section which looks among the most competitive in European qualifying.

Despite their strong start Montenegro are the fourth seeds and there are question marks over their defence after they failed to keep clean sheets against the weakest teams in the group.

Failure to shut out Latvia and Gibraltar did not cost Montenegro any points but better defending will be needed if they are to cope with teams who have far better attacking options.

Norway could not take many positives away from their loss to Turkey but influential captain Martin Odegaard handed them a boost by shrugging off pre-match injury concerns and completing the whole game.

Odegaard's link-up play with centre-forward Erling Haaland is integral to the way Norway want to move forward and their quality could open the door to a much-needed victory.

Luxembourg v Portugal

Luxembourg's 1-0 win in Ireland on Saturday was one of the shock results of the weekend but some of the reaction has been a little disrespectful to Luc Holtz's improving side, who can give a decent account of themselves against European champions Portugal.

Ireland captain Seamus Coleman insisted that his team 'should be embarrassed' by the weekend's events at the Aviva Stadium and there have been question marks raised over the future of manager Stephen Kenny, who began his tenure in September last year.

However, there should have been a far greater focus on Luxembourg, who have been making steady progress for several years and finished second in Nations League Group C1 after registering victories away to Montenegro and Azerbaijan and at home to Cyprus.

Luxembourg are no longer among the whipping boys of international football and have not conceded more than three goals in a competitive game since an 8-0 loss in Sweden in October 2017.

Since then they have played 23 competitive fixtures including a couple of Euro 2020 qualifiers against Portugal, losing 3-0 in Lisbon and 2-0 in Luxembourg.

Holtz will be hoping for his team to continue closing the gap on the big guns and they can at least keep the scoreline respectable against Portugal.

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