Denmark vs Northern Ireland Prediction: Danish goalscorer backed

Denmark and Northern Ireland will meet in a friendly match in Copenhagen on Saturday (18:00, BBC iPlayer), looking to hone their tactics ahead of their World Cup qualification campaign. 

The same can be said for Michael O’Neill’s outfit, who will look to qualify for their first World Cup since 1986. This will be a good test for them and below you can find my Denmark vs Northern Ireland predictions. 

Football Odds

Team News

Brian Riemer has only had four games in charge of Denmark but he has plenty of Premier League experience to call upon for this game. Kasper Schmeichel, now of Celtic, is still captain of this side while Manchester United trio Patrick Dorgu, Christian Eriksen and Rasmus Hojlund should all feature. 

Christian Norgaard and Mikkel Damsgaard of Brentford will compete in midfield with Brighton’s Matt O’Riley, while Joachim Andersen and Jannik Vestergaard are options at centre-back. Former wonderkid Kasper Dolberg is now playing his football at Anderlecht and should start, with Mathias Kvistgaarden targeting his first international appearance. 

Northern Ireland’s squad is mainly made up of EFL players, plus a couple of young stars from the Premier League. Dan Ballard and Trai Hume are now top-flight players after their promotion with Sunderland, while Conor Bradley is looking to establish himself as Liverpool’s first-choice right-back following the departure of Trent Alexander-Arnold. 

Dale Taylor and Callum Marshall will hope for more exposure to international football, while Ross County’s Ronan Hale is in line for his first international cap. Conor Hazard and Pierce Charles will battle it out for the number one spot, while this is a very young squad, with only Paddy McNair and George Saville above the age of 30. 

Denmark vs Northern Ireland Odds

Denmark have been priced up at 2/7 to win this friendly match, giving them an implied win probability of 78%. Northern Ireland are 8/1 to secure the win, while the parity of a draw is 18/5. Over 2.5 goals is 4/6, BTTS is 11/10 and Mika Bierith is the favourite to score first at 7/2. 

Denmark to win and BTTS @ 11/5

Denmark are by far the better team here and they should be able to get the job done, even in a friendly. The Premier League quality I’ve listed in the team news should be far superior to the squad Northern Ireland can put together, and I’m not expecting much of a drop-off from the hosts. 

They’ve got plenty of players who want to prove themselves for the new manager and they will be targeting a place in the squad for next year’s World Cup. However, I think we can boost our odds by backing both teams to score. BTTS has come in during the last three Northern Ireland matches and in three of the last five Denmark fixtures. Should be an open encounter in the Danish capital. 

Mika Bierith to score anytime @ 6/5

If you haven’t heard of Monaco’s in-form striker, you will get to know him over the next 12 months. Born in London and having spent his youth with Fulham and Arsenal, he joined Monaco from Sturm Graz in January and has caught fire since the move, scoring 13 goals in 16 league games. 

He’s only 22, but it feels like he could be the next big striker to move to the Premier League for a massive contract, and if he can keep finding the net for Denmark his stock will only increase. Backing him to score against this weak Northern Irish defence makes sense to me. 

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