Ireland vs Austria
World Cup Qualifiers – Europe (Group D)
Date: Sunday, 11th June 2017
Kick off at 17:00 UK/ 18:00 CET
Venue: Aviva Stadium.
Victory would leave Martin O'Neill's side seven points ahead of Austria with just four games to play, and while O'Neill is well aware of what is at stake, he knows his team will have to perform to their best to get a result against Marcel Koller's side.
"Obviously it's a big three points for both countries, it really is very, very big," he said. "Now we've crossed the halfway stage, tomorrow starts the second half of the tournament for us, and we just have to try to grab these points. Every point is as important as the ones before.
"We just have to try to do our utmost. If we have done our utmost, then there is not much more I can ask.
"I don't think that we've got the ability to carry players in the team. We have to really be at it all the time, and that's one of our strengths, I think. But if we drop off... We just can't afford to do that, let me put it that way."
O'Neill's men remain unbeaten in the campaign and returned from Austria in November with three precious points, courtesy of James McClean's lone strike. Victory this weekend would significantly increase their prospects of claiming one of the top two berths in Group D.
Republic of Ireland vs Austria: Head to head
Das Team have generally been the dominant side in head to head clashes with Republic of Ireland, but the Green Army managed to end the Austrian reign with a super important 0-1 victory from November’s clash at Ernst-Happel Stadion.
It was James McClean who continued the impressive qualifying campaign by netting his third goal in the process to make the difference between the two teams.
Republic of Ireland vs Austria: Prediction
This is going to get intense as much as it can since the stakes can hardly be greater.
It will certainly affect the beauty of the game which is why we don’t expect to witness a high-scoring affair this Sunday in Dublin.
Opta stats
The Republic of Ireland's 1-0 win in Austria in November was their only previous away victory over them on the international stage.
The last time the Republic of Ireland hosted Austria was in March 2013, a 2-2 draw at the Aviva Stadium with Jonathan Walters scoring twice.
James McClean has scored each of the Republic of Ireland's last three goals in qualifying.
Heading into this round of fixtures, only Cristiano Ronaldo (38) and Josip Ilicic (26) have had more shots than McClean (24) in qualifying so far.
David Alaba has created more chances than any other Austrian player so far in qualifying (15), with three of those leading to assists.
Martin O'Neill is yet to lose a home qualifying match as national team manager of the Republic of Ireland (W5 D3).
In fact, the Boys in Green haven't conceded a goal in any of their last five home qualifiers.
Only Slovakia (29y 96d) and Moldova (29y 118d) have named an older starting line-up on average than the Republic of Ireland in this qualifying campaign (29y 54d).
