Northern Ireland will be understrength for the final qualifier due to suspensions but the focus will be on a performance with a World Cup play-off on the horizon
Friday night’s defeat in Slovakia, particularly the manner of it with a disputed stoppage-time goal from Tomas Bobcek, stung Northern Ireland badly.
That result now means there is nothing riding on the Luxembourg clash in the final World Cup qualifier, but boss Michael O’Neill has no sense of this being a dead rubber.
All eyes are now on March and their World Cup play-off semi-final. The draw for that takes place this Thursday, with Northern Ireland in Pot 4 thanks to their Nations league results.
That means they face one of the Pot 1 teams away from home in the play-off semi-final, before a potential final against one of the other play-off semi winners.
Northern Ireland have four players who are on a yellow card, yet they do not know for certain if they risk suspension for the play-off to come in March.
Trai Hume, Justin Devenny, Josh Magennis and Jamie Reid have all picked up a yellow card in this campaign so far and although O’Neill assumes another booking on Monday night would rule them out in March, his request to UEFA for clarification on the rules is yet to receive a reply.
Suspensions have been costly for Northern Ireland in this campaign. Conor Bradley’s absence was keenly felt in the 1-0 home defeat to Germany last month, and Ethan Galbraith was a big miss in Friday’s 1-0 loss in Slovakia which ended hopes of a top-two finish in the group.
Daniel Ballard and George Saville will be missing on Monday night, with Ballard sent off late on in Kosice where Saville was booked.
To add to O’Neill’s problems, Bailey Peacock-Farrell and Jamie Reid both missed training on Sunday with back problems.
Here’s everything you need to know..
Where is the game being played?
The game is being played at the Clearer Twist National Stadium at Windsor Park in Belfast.
What time is kick off?
The kick off is at 7.45pm on Monday night
Where can I watch the game?
The game is live on BBC2 NI and it will also be streamed on the BBC iPlayer. Coverage starts at 7.30pm.
Who is the referee?
Kristo Tohver (Estonia)
Betting Odds?
Northern Ireland 8/11
Draw: 11/4
Luxembourg: 19/4
Quotes corner
“This is the only preparation game we have for the play-off, so this is the most important game we have now,” Northern Ireland Michael O’Neill said.
“We’ll have to look at what we do in terms of the line-up and there’ll be opportunities maybe for us to find out about some players as well that maybe haven’t had loads of minutes.
“(We want) a good performance, an energetic performance, freshness to the team and to play on the front foot, to finish the camp on a positive note and to look forward to March.”
Isaac Price said Monday was still a “massive” game for Northern Ireland even without anything riding on the result.
“We’re a young team and there’s always a chance for us to learn,” he said. “International games don’t come around too often so every game we have, we’ve got to make the most of.”
Luxembourg boss Jeff Strasser said: “I am looking forward to what our team do. I don’t know if (O’Neill) may give chances to players who didn’t play in the last game, but are going to try everything to win the game. For us (Friday) didn’t change anything.”
Strasser was only 17 days into the Luxembourg job when his side faced Northern Ireland in their opening game of this campaign back in September. That ended in a 3-1 Northern Ireland win as Jamie Reid, Shea Charles and Justin Devenny scored for the visitors, while Aiman Dardari was on target for a Luxembourg side who had Seid Korac sent off in the second half.
Things have not got much better for Luxembourg since.
Although they ran Slovakia close in a 1-0 defeat in September and at least held Germany goalless for the first half of Friday’s 2-0 home defeat, Luxembourg have lost all five of their games so far, scoring once and conceding 12.
“We need to try to do better than in the last games,” Strasser added. “Especially in the last third, to score more goals. We need to be able to create chances and we did do that I think. It is important for us to get better in this way.”
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