Watch every Nations League games live on Sky Sports
Friday 12 October 2018 11:24, UK
The Nations League returns to Sky Sports this week, and Charlie Nicholas has given his predictions for some of the biggest games.
Most of the home nations will be in action across the next few days, with England and Northern Ireland all on their travels, while the Republic of Ireland face a home game against Denmark.
Ahead of the games, Soccer Saturday pundit Charlie Nicholas has cast his eye over the fixtures and made his predictions...
These guys have reached a level that even they didn't know they could reach so it's no surprise to see them drop off a bit after that World Cup. Gareth Southgate is a bold coach, he's been brave enough to pick a lot of kids so let's see if he's bold enough to play them. I think Croatia are on the slide a bit now, and they're an ageing team as well but they'll always have a chance at home - even if the game will be strange being played behind closed doors.
CHARLIE PREDICTS: 1-1 (5/1 with Sky Bet)
Marko Arnautovic has been great for West Ham this season and at home he's bound to give Northern Ireland problems all night long, so he could be the difference and it wouldn't surprise me if he scored both goals in this one.
CHARLIE'S PREDICTION: 2-0 (5/1 with Sky Bet)
This should be one of the games of the weekend. Belgium are such a great team to watch and the Swiss did well at the World Cup with some decent players themselves. But in Eden Hazard, Belgium have probably got the best player on the planet right now and Romelu Lukaku will enjoy playing for his country again as it's just not happening for him at Manchester United at the moment.
CHARLIE PREDICTS: 3-1 (11/1 with Sky Bet)
Ireland need to sort themselves out, with talks of players falling out with Roy Keane. I think it's time for someone in charge to say we just need to grow up here. Again, there's not a lot of goal scoring in this game but there'll be personal pride to play for with Ireland and I think it'll be physical and they'll just about get the job done. It's a strange one but I think Jeff Hendrick could pop up with the winner here from midfield.
CHARLIE PREDICTS: 1-0 (7/1 with Sky Bet)
Germany need to get going again after a disappointing World Cup, they'll need their senior players to get hold of the rest and try and build their confidence back up, so I'm going for the Dutch to upset them in this one and I'm going to go for the show pony Memphis Depay to be the difference in this one. He's got loads of talent, he only seems to show it when he wants but he can be the match winner for them here.
CHARLIE PREDICTS: 2-1 (11/1 with Sky Bet)
