Northern Ireland have little hope of causing an upset
Northern Ireland travel to the Stadio Adriatico in Pescara on Tuesday evening to face an Italian side that has won all four of their homes by an aggregate score of 12-0 and sit seven points clear at the top of Euro 2012 Group C with one game remaining.
The task quite simply couldn't be any trickier and the only real hope the Irish have of escaping with less than a hiding is that the Italians take their foot off the pedal having already qualified for the European Championships which start in June 2012. That event is unlikely though with any Italian players selected that are on the fringe of the first team wanting to impress.
News on Monday afternoon that Nigel Worthington will step down as Manager after this game may have a positive affect long term, although that's open for debate, but it will surely not do them any favours on Tuesday night for what was already looking a daunting task.
Latest team news ahead of the game is not good for Northern Ireland with both Chris Brunt and Sammy Clingan forced to withdraw through ankle and back problems. They now join Lee Camp and Grant McCann who both withdrew from the squad on Saturday while Kyle Lafferty is banned after picking up a booking against Estonia.
You don't have to be Albert Einstein to work out that Italy should win this game, but you won't get rich backing them at odds of around 1.20, however William Hill and Blue Square's odds of 1.67 for them to win to nil represents decent value and should be punted. Northern Ireland have only scored twice in their last three matches, one an own goal and one after a blunder by the Estonian keeper, but you wouldn't expect Italy to afford them such luxuries.