VENUE
The Aviva Stadium, Lansdowne Road, Dublin 4
ONLINE
Live blog on RTÉ.ie and the RTÉ News Now App from 7pm
RADIO
Live commentary from the Aviva Stadium on Saturday Sport Extra, on RTÉ Radio One from 7:30pm
TV
Live coverage on Sky Sports Football from 7pm. Highlights on Virgin Two from 11pm.
WEATHER
Saturday will start dull, wet and cloudy. Rain will slowly move northwards through the day. Brighter and drier conditions will develop by afternoon. Maximum temperatures 13 or 14 degrees with a light and variable breeze.
IRELAND NEED A WIN
Martin O'Neill's side come into this game on the back of one of the worst runs of form of the manager's reign.
Since Ireland's 1-0 victory over Wales in their World Cup qualifying game back in October of 2017, they've managed to claim just one victory from seven games, edging out the USA 2-1 in June's fairly meaningless post-season friendly.
Thumping defeats to Saturday's opponents Denmark and Wales, who Ireland will face on Tuesday, have been part of that sequence of results and onus is on the manager to coax a response from his side, with question marks hanging over his ability to do so.
It was a 5-1 World Cup play-off defeat against Denmark that started the rot and facing the same opposition at the same venue offers at least Ireland and O'Neill a chance to start afresh and claim their first points of the Nations League.
Ireland are bottom of Group B but a win over the Danes would take them level on points with both Denmark and Wales, on three points a piece with all teams having played two games.
"Denmark obviously beat us convincingly last year," said O'Neill. "We'd like to redress that if we can naturally. "This is part of the preliminary stages of the Nations League, so there are a few points up for grabs as well. We'll try to win the game if we can."
IS ALL ROSY IN THE CAMP?
Harry Arter has returned to the fold after opting out of the squad for the double header with Wales and Poland last month.
A row involving Arter and Keane was said to be the reason behind the Cardiff City midfielder's absence with Jonathan Walters also involved.
The issue was further complicated when a WhatsApp message, purportedly from Stephen Ward, was leaked and explained in no uncertain language the manner of the spat between Arter, Walters and Keane.
Ward and Walters are both missing from the squad due to injury and O'Neill has attempted to draw a line under the issue with the return of Arter but questions remain over the mood in the squad.
You can be certain that all manner of amateur body language experts will be scrutinising the behaviour of Arter and Keane on Saturday.
DOHERTY DUE A START
Voted the Premier League's player of the month, Wolves marauding wing-back Matt Doherty beat out Eden Hazard to pick up the accolade but he's still waiting to make his first competitive appearance for Ireland.
Doherty has enjoyed a new lease of life at the newly promoted Premier League high-fliers under Nuno Espirito Santo, but so far O'Neill has been unwilling to take a gamble on the former Bohemians player.
The Ireland manager hinted towards a lack of directness in Doherty's play being the issue last month when he said: "The way Wolves play at times, when he’s out wide he’ll look to pass it infield again. I believe he can drive forward with it. When he gets the confidence to do that I believe he can do it because he’s strong."
O'Neill certainly has a fondness for direct-running midfielders and James McClean has earned almost 60 caps from putting his head down and charging forward with the ball, but all too often the Irish midfield is lacking the kind of guile and intelligence that Doherty has shown in the Premier League.
The Irish manager has shown an inflexibility when it comes to setting his team up and the fact that Doherty can thrive in either a full-back or a midfield role may have gone against him in the past, with O'Neill only seeming to consider him for that full-back position.
However with captain Seamus Coleman ruled out through injury and Cyrus Christie struggling to impress for Fulham or indeed Ireland in recent times, Doherty will feel that he's owed a chance to prove himself for his country.
THE OPPOSITION
First the good news - there will be no Christian Eriksen. The Tottenham attacker was Ireland's tormentor in chief when the sides met in their World Cup play-off decider, scoring a hat-trick and tearing the Irish defence asunder in his team's 5-1 victory.
Denmark coach Age Hareide revealed that the Eriksen is suffering from a "chronic" stomach injury and was unable to put a time frame on his return.
Eriksen's absence leaves a major gap in Denmark's attack, but Hareide is unlikely to alter his preferred 4-3-3 formation, and he's confident that his side can cope without their star attacker.
"It's important to focus on the players we have and on the team we have," Hareide said. "We just have to try to fill that role, or play in a little bit different way without him.
"We have shown that we have a lot of good players in Denmark and the team is working for each other, know each other, so I don't think that missing Christian will be any kind of excuse after the game."
The Danes have quality in other areas of the pitch but replacing Eriksen's goals and attacking threat will not be an easy feat. Yussuf Poulsen is the top scorer in the current squad with just five goals to his name.
VERDICT
As much as Hareide might protest, Denmark as a less threatening prospect without Eriksen and when the Tottenham man has been missing, they've found goals difficult to come by.
It was Eriksen who scored both of the Danes' goals in their 2-0 victory over Wales last time out and without him as a focal point to their attack, Ireland have hope.
Of course finding the net has been a problem for Ireland too and only this week, O'Neill was bemoaning the lack of a goal-scoring replacement for Robbie Keane after he hung up his boots.
Shane Long has been passed fit and with Walters out injured, is likely to start but even with him, Ireland look blunt up front and this could be a low-scoring affair with very little between the sides.
O'Neill is a conservative manager at the best of times but will still have that 5-1 beating in the back of his mind, so expect a safety first approach with little space offered to the visitors.
Prediction: Ireland 0-0 Denmark
