Republic of Ireland v Wales is live on Sky Sports Football from 7pm on Tuesday
Tuesday 16 October 2018 19:48, UK
Wales will be without Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey when they travel to Dublin to face Republic of Ireland, live on Sky Sports, in the Nations League on Tuesday.
Bale has been suffering with what Wales manager Ryan Giggs has described as "muscle fatigue" and missed Thursday's 4-1 friendly defeat to Spain. The Real Madrid forward has also been forced to pull out of the squad in Dublin, returning instead to Spain for further examination.
However, Ben Davies thinks Wales can cope without Bale, backing David Brooks to help fill the void left by the Real Madrid star's absence.
"Gareth is a massive loss for any team and we'll have to adapt but he (Brooks) is a top player," Davies said. "He has a lot of ability and talent that defenders just don't want to come up against. We'll have a good attacking threat in him against Ireland."
Ramsey will not travel to Dublin due to family reasons and his personal situation was addressed when manager Ryan Giggs named his 25-man squad for the double header against Spain and the Republic.
Giggs said: "We have to weigh it up and it's something for us to assess. Obviously, we are at home for the first game. That's a plus, but we are just monitoring the situation."
Wales overpowered the Republic of Ireland in September, winning 4-1 with Bale and Ramsey among the scorers at the Cardiff City Stadium.
But after securing a first Nations League point with a 0-0 draw against Denmark on Saturday, Martin O'Neill insists his side are ready for the crunch clash against Wales.
"I think they did fine," he said after the Denmark game. "The clean sheet was very important - rebuilding again, giving us that confidence again. I think they are ready for Wales."
Callum O'Dowda is out of the Republic of Ireland's clash with Wales. The Bristol City midfielder suffered dizziness following a collision during the first half of Saturday's 0-0 draw with Denmark and sat out training on Monday morning as a result.
O'Neill said: "He is out of the game tomorrow night, precautionary as much as anything else. He wasn't feeling great at half-time, but he can't remember when it actually happened during the course of the game - we are trying to find out ourselves - so the best thing to do was to take him off, take him out of it and then any sort of reaction, it would be too early to consider him for tomorrow night."
Ciaran Clark has also handed O'Neill a late headache after suffering a thigh injury in training.
Along with Bale and Ramsey, Wales will also be without Chelsea's Ethan Ampadu after he injured his knee in the friendly against Spain.
Republic of Ireland, who lost to Wales in their last meeting in September, haven't suffered consecutive defeats against them since March 1986.
O'Neill's side have kept a clean sheet in each of their last two home games against Wales; a 1-0 win in March 2007 and a 0-0 draw in March 2017.
Wales scored four goals in their win over Ireland last month, as many as they'd netted in their previous 11 clashes against the Boys in Green.
Giggs could become the first Wales manager to win his first two matches against Republic of Ireland since Mike England in 1986.
Wales have won just one of their last five away games against Republic of Ireland, winning 1-0 in February 1992 (W1 D1 L3).
Ireland have won just one of their last seven home games against British sides (D4 L2), with that victory coming against Wales in March 2007.
Wales have lost back-to-back games in all competitions. They last lost three in a row back in September 2012, when Chris Coleman lost each of his first five games as manager.
Sam Vokes has been directly involved in five goals in his last four games for Wales, scoring three and assisting a further two.
I think Ireland will win this because of the personnel Wales are missing. It's a different game with Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey fit, but without them Ireland should have enough to get the result. I think they do a great job there, Martin O'Neill and Roy Keane, and I think they'll just edge it.
It's hard playing international football, and they don't have the resources a country like England has by some way but they still manage to get results, so fair play.
PAUL PREDICTS: Republic of Ireland 1-0 Wales (5/1 with Sky Bet)
