Northern Ireland – Italy

Seeking to maintain their unbeaten run in the World Cup qualifiers, Italy take a trip to Windsor Park Stadium to face Northern Ireland on Monday. The hosts, meanwhile, head into the game fresh off the back of snapping their three-game winless run and will be looking to build on that performance. Northern Ireland returned to winning ways last Friday when they narrowly edged out Lithuania 1-0 on home turf.

Meanwhile, Italy failed to make it two wins from two last time out as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Switzerland on home turf. They currently sit top of the log, level on 15 points with second-placed Switzerland. The Azzurri hold the edge over the Swiss going into the last round of games with a goal difference two better than their Alpine neighbors.

With seven wins from their last 10 encounters, Italy boast a superior record in the history of this fixture. Northern Ireland have managed just one win in that time, while two games have ended all square.

Italy have been utterly dominant in recent meetings against Northern Ireland and considering they boast a plethora of world-class talent in their camp, we predict they will return to winning ways in this one.