Northern Ireland will play hosts to Italy in the 2022 World Cup qualifying Group C matchday 10 on Monday. The kick-off is at 21:45 CEST.

Preview

Even though Italy failed to beat Switzerland on Friday as Giovanni Di Lorenzo's strike was only enough to cancel Silvan Widmer's opener at the Stadio Olimpico, it's Roberto Mancini's men who lead the Group C standings ahead of its final match. The Swiss side, meanwhile, are second, level on points (15) but behind the Italians on goal difference. Hence, even a draw against Nothern Ireland would be enough for Gli Azzurri to secure an automatic qualification for the Qatari tournament.

The Green and White Army, meanwhile, have nothing to compete for in this encounter as Ian Baraclough's are now third in the standings, seven points adrift of second-placed Switzerland.

Team news

Nicolo Zaniolo, Lorenzo Pellegrini, Marco Verratti, Andrea Belotti and Ciro Immobile are all unavailalbe for Italy due to injury while NI have no significant injury absentees ahead of the match.

Prediction

The Euro 2020 winners have really struggled to find the back of the net in the absence of Belotti and Immobile. Nevertheless, we can't envisage Italy failing to break Baraclough's defence on Monday, given that they only need one point in this one to book themselves a place at next year's World Cup, especially after Gli Azzurri easily defeated their forthcoming opponents 2-0 in their previous head-to-head meeting in March.

Tip

Italy to win to nil at 1.85 with 1XBET.