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Thursday's European Qualifiers preview: Netherlands, Italy and Belgium look for boost

Davy Klaassen of the Netherlands celebrates after scoring against Spain
Image: Netherlands risk falling further behind in the race for automatic qualification

Netherlands will look to keep their Euro 2016 qualification hopes alive as they host Group A leaders Iceland in Amsterdam, live on Sky Sports along with the other eight European Qualifiers on Thursday evening.

New head coach Danny Blind takes charge of his first game after the sacking of Guus Hiddink, who had endured a tough 10-month stint having taken over from Louis van Gaal.

Netherlands lost the reverse clash in Iceland 2-0 last October, and with the World Cup semi-finalists three points behind second-place Czech Republic and five points behind leaders Iceland, they risk missing out on an automatic qualification spot.

Louis van Gaal (right) worked with Danny Blind with the Netherlands at last year's World Cup
Image: Danny Blind (left) will take charge of his first Netherlands game

Live Euro 2016 Qualifiers

The top two from each European Qualifiers group automatically go through to next summer's tournament in France, along with the best third-place side, which is currently Albania on 10 points. The other third-place finishers will go into the play-offs.

Blind has Arjen Robben, Memphis Depay and Robin van Persie available for the clash, but Iceland have lost just twice in 12 games in all competitions.

Euro first-timers?
Euro first-timers?

Learn more about Iceland, Cyprus and Israel in our new European Qualifiers feature...

Elsewhere in Group A, second-place Czech Republic host bottom side Kazakhstan, and Turkey take on Latvia in Istanbul, with the hosts hoping for a Netherlands slip up to stay in play-off contention with four games remaining.

Live on Sky
Live on Sky

You can watch all nine of Thursday's European Qualifiers live on Sky Sports

Belgium
Image: Second-place Belgium prepare to host Bosnia in Group B

In Group B, Belgium sit three points behind Wales as they prepare to host Bosnia in Brussels.

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A win for Marc Wilmots' side will have them well placed for an automatic qualification spot, with Israel and Cyprus two points behind in third and fourth respectively.

Group leaders Wales travel to Cyprus, and Israel will look to keep in contention as they host Andorra.

Marco Benassi of Italy celebrates with team mates after scoring to make it 2-0 during the UEFA Under21 European Champio
Image: Italy face Malta in Group H, but sit two points behind leaders Croatia

Live Euro 2016 Qualifiers

The look of Group H could change dramatically by the end of play on Thursday, but second-place Italy should have no problems getting past bottom side Malta in Florence.

The Azzurri are two points behind leaders Croatia, who travel to Azerbaijan, but Bulgaria's clash with Norway could be most telling.

Live Euro 2016 Qualifiers

With four games remaining, Norway, on 10 points, host Bulgaria, who are two points behind.

Watch all nine of Thursday's European Qualifiers live on Sky Sports - details here

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