Charlie’s WC Qualifier predictions

Charlie Nicholas provides us with his latest round of World Cup Qualifier predictions – and reckons Wales could have a far trickier night than Gareth Southgate’s new England side.

Chris Coleman’s men face arguably their toughest test in Group D as they travel to Austria on Thursday while the Republic of Ireland host the group’s outsiders in Georgia, with both games live on Sky Sports.

England, Northern Ireland and Scotland are all odds-on favourites against Malta, San Marino and Lithuania respectively – and Charlie can see interim boss Southgate getting off to a flyer. Check out his full Sky Bet tips for the five clashes…

Austria v Wales

This is a really tough game for Wales. They need to go again as a team. Every time I switch on the box it seems to be Gareth Bale, Gareth Bale, Gareth Bale but I remember a lot of the Welsh players doing really well at the Euros.

Austria are a decent team but can be quite frustrating in how defensive they are. I think they could be dragged down by focusing on Bale and stopping him, which would be a negative thing for a home side that should be going out to win the game.

Ashley Williams is in great form and Wales are becoming tougher and tougher to break down, so I can’t see many goals in this game, especially if Austria are wary of getting caught on the break by Bale.

Charlie predicts: 0-0 (13/2 with Sky Bet)

Republic of Ireland v Georgia

This is another potentially dangerous tie but the Irish have always been quite good at these sort of games where you have to go out and break a team down.

These are the …

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