The Republic of Ireland know a win against Georgia at the Aviva Stadium tonight would give them a great chance of securing a playoff spot for Euro 2016. Ireland were always going to beat Gibraltar and did so 4-0 but the biggest group D result on Friday came in Tbilisi with Georgia beating Scotland 1-0.
That means Martin O'Neill's side are one point ahead of the Scots and Gordon Strachan's side have to play World Champions Germany in Glasgow this evening. Should Germany win, Ireland could be four points clear of Scotland heading into the final two group games.
Ireland have to finish with games at home to Germany and away to Poland while Scotland and Poland meet at Hampden Park the same night we play Germany. If we win tonight and Scotland lose their home games against Germany and Poland then the Boys in Green would head to Warsaw guaranteed third place.
But we shouldn't look past tonight's game against Georgia because Ireland haven't exactly shown enough quality during the campaign to suggest three points are a guarantee.
Only for a superb Aiden McGeady injury time goal Ireland would have had to settle for a draw in Tbilisi a year ago but 2-1 against the Georgians is not an uncommon scoreline.
We've played them five times in competitive and have a record of five wins from five. Four of those wins have been by 2 goals to 1 and I think every Irish fan would settle for that tonight.
Temur Ketsbaia is no longer in charge of Georgia and their new coach Kakhaber Tskhadadze will be hoping to mark his 47th birthday with another three points.
Seamus Coleman missed the win over Gibraltar with a tight hamstring but his replacement Cyrus Christie got the opening goal in Faro.
Robbie Keane scored two goals on Friday to take his International tally to 67 goals which took him within one of German legend Gerd Muller.
O'Neill will make changes from that win so Coleman will start if fit while Marc Wilson and James McClean could be brought in for Ciaran Clark and Jeff Hendrick. Aiden McGeady hasn't returned to full fitness but he could be given a start with a view to playing 60 minutes or O'Neill might prefer to spring the Everton winger from the bench.
Going into the game Seamus Coleman, James McCarthy, James McClean, Jonathan Walters, Glenn Whelan and Marc Wilson are all one yellow card away from a one match ban.
A third place finish in the group could set up a playoff against the likes of Turkey, the Netherlands, Ukraine, Estonia, Croatia, Russia, Israel or Denmark.
