The Faroe Islands shouldn’t be taken lightly however as they won their last qualification match 2 – 1 against Greece. They are currently fourth in Group F with 6 points, having won 2 games and lost 4. Northern Ireland drew the last qualification match against Romania and go into the game second in Group F with 13 points, having won 4 games, drawn one and lost one.
Ahead of the game against the Faroe Islands tomorrow night, we thought we would give you five key stats on the upcoming fixture:
One - Northern Ireland’s encounter with the Faroe Islands on Friday will be the sixth meeting between the countries. Of the previous five, three have gone in favour of ‘OWC’ with the two remaining games ending in draws. The Faroes have only ever managed to score twice in those previous five contests compared to Northern Ireland’s 13 goals.
Two - Northern Ireland have not conceded a first half goal in any of their six Euro 2016 qualifiers to date.
Three - If Chris Baird plays against the Faroes it will be his 73rd game for Northern Ireland putting him in joint ninth place in the all-time appearance list alongside Jimmy Nicholl.
Four - Michael O’Neill’s 26-man squad is made up of 7 players currently plying their trade in the Premier League, 7 in the Championship, 4 in League One, 2 in League Two, 5 in the Scottish Premiership and 1 in the A-League in Australia.
Five - Colin Clarke’s hat-trick against the Faroe Islands in September 1991 is one of only three scored by Northern Ireland players away from home. The other two came from David Healy v Liechtenstein in March 2007 and Alfie Gara v Wales in Feb 1902.
Northern Ireland v Faroe Islands kicks off at 19.45 on Friday the 4th September.
Chris Baird could make his 73rd appearance for Northern Ireland against the Faroe Islands
The last time Northern Ireland played the Faroe Islands was in October 2014