Euro 2016 Qualifying Tips: Let Turkey entertain you

Fatih Terim is enjoying a third stint in charge of Turkey

Over 2.5 Turkey v Czech Republic goals is one of Michael Lintorn's three favoured Friday night Euro 2016 qualifying bets...

Bulgaria v Croatia
Friday, 19:45
Live on Sky Sports Red Button

Match Odds: Bulgaria 3.9n/a, Croatia 2.245/4, The Draw 3.39/4

Neither Croatia's World Cup qualifying campaign nor their actual tournament performance was particularly accomplished, but they were never starved of goals, firing in each of their previous nine games, as well as four of their five away group outings in the World Cup preliminary process.

Even without Dimitar Berbatov, Bulgaria are pretty efficient at scoring themselves, being hushed up in a mere two of their last eight in Sofia. They notched twice in their opener at understated "tough place to go" Azerbaijan, a commendable feat given that the latter leaked just five times across their five prior competitive fixtures as hosts.

Recommended Bet: Back both teams to score @ 2.226/5

Cyprus v Israel
Friday, 19:45
Live on Sky Sports Red Button

Match Odds: Cyprus 3.814/5, Israel 2.265/4, The Draw 3.3512/5

Israel's footballing existence is a strange one: they are always competitive, yet not to enough of an extent to reach a tournament - at least not since 1970. For instance, they have lost only four out of 30 matches in their last three World Cup qualifying attempts without even achieving a play-off place.

One reason is that they aren't ruthless enough at turning draws into wins. In their 2014 effort, the only of their five opponents that they beat were Luxembourg (twice) and Northern Ireland. Cyprus, who held Switzerland and defeated Iceland in their group while keeping three home clean sheets in five, will therefore prove troublesome, especially as the outsiders won away to Bosnia last month.

Recommended Bet: Lay Israel to win @ 2.285/4

Turkey v Czech Republic
Friday, 19:45
Live on Sky Sports Red Button

Match Odds: Turkey 2.3611/8, Czech Republic 3.55/2, The Draw 3.3512/5

These nations couldn't have done more to confound expectations in their Group A curtain-raisers. Turkey flopped 0-3 away to the Iceland side whose World Cup qualifying success was suspected by some to be a one-off as Czech Republic conquered Netherlands 2-1 to put a testing few years behind them.

One common strand you might detect from those results was over 2.5 goals and that is a recurring theme. Six of Turkey's past seven encounters have delivered exactly three goals, with the exception landing one under on two, while four of Czech Republic's five in 2014 have supplied over 2.5 goals, with two 2-2s and two 2-1s.

Recommended Bet: Back over 2.5 goals @ 2.3411/8