Netherlands vs Republic of Ireland Prediction and Betting Tips: Gakpo to continue his scoring run for Oranje

EURO 2024 qualification isn't home and hosed yet for the Netherlands who must create some distance between themselves and Greece with a win over Ireland this weekend.

A 1-0 win over Greece put the Dutch on level footing with their qualification rivals, holding a real advantage by having a game in hand and a superior head-to-head record over the Greeks heading into the final fixtures in Group B. Top spot is already France's and rightly so after Didier Deschamps has guided his World Cup finalists to six straight wins, including 4-0 and 2-1 victories over the Oranje. However, a victory over Ireland would ensure a top-two finish for Ronald Koeman's side.

Republic of Ireland, like Gibraltar below them, will not be present at EURO 2024 next summer no matter how the remaining qualifiers unfold. Stephen Kenny's men broke a three-match winless drought with victory over Group B's minnows, the team to provide them with all six of their points during the tournament's qualifying campaign.

Ireland are sweating over the fitness of Evan Ferguson - the nation's biggest goal threat - heading into this encounter. The Boys in Green have missed out on qualification for next year's tournament, so pride is the only motivating factor for their clash with Netherlands, meanwhile the hosts aren't counting their chickens before they've hatched, knowing just how important this fixture is. The Irish will have a much tougher task in Amsterdam than they did when running this opponent close in a 2-1 defeat two months ago.

Backing the Dutch to be leading at half-time and full-time is a good entry point when considering how short they are in the match result market and the fact that them to win to nil is priced exactly the same. Four of their 10 goals during qualifying have been scored in the opening 45 minutes, including a Cody Gakpo penalty inside 20 minutes vs Ireland.

Ronald Koeman knows a quick start could be the key to victory. This is a must-win match for his team and with qualification possible via victory, deflating Ireland's spirit with an early lead is the start every manager dreams for. Knowing that this bet has landed in two of Ireland's last three defeats, we're happy to go with this as our main tip.

Having started Wout Weghorst as a number 9 who returned no goals in the past two games, Ronald Koeman is expected to depend on Cody Gakpo as his centre forward for the visit of Ireland.

Despite having to largely rely on cameo appearances from the bench for club, Gakpo has produced an attacking return in five of his matches for Liverpool this season, with four of those being directly put in the opposition net himself. In his last start as part of Liverpool's forward three, the Dutch forward netted in his side's 2-1 win over Bournemouth in the EFL Cup at the beginning of November.

Jurgen Klopp has deployed him across a number of different positions, perhaps most bizarrely as a makeshift central midfielder, which has certainly impacted the reliability of his club numbers. However, on the international stage, Gakpo has flourished since being introduced into the fold. He's made 19 appearances to date, netting eight goals, two of which have come inside three EURO 2024 qualifiers, with those consecutive goals against Greece and Ireland in September and October the last two matches he played in an Oranje shirt having being injured for the subsequent fixtures with France and Greece.