Opta facts

• Republic of Ireland have won eight and drawn one of their nine previous meetings with Georgia in all competitions, with their sole draw coming in the most recent encounter back in September 2017 (1-1).
• Republic of Ireland have won each of their five previous home meetings against Georgia by an aggregate score of 10-1.
• Ireland are looking to win back-to-back matches for the first time since October 2017 (v Moldova and Wales); they had only won one of their 11 matches since then before beating Gibraltar last time out (D5 L5).
• On home soil, Republic of Ireland have failed to score in their last three matches in all competitions – they’ve never gone on a longer scoreless run at home in their history.
• Georgia haven’t lost back-to-back matches since October 2017 when they lost to Wales and Serbia; they were beaten 0-2 by Switzerland in their last outing.
• Georgia haven’t drawn any of their last 12 European Championship qualifying matches, winning three and losing nine since a 1-1 stalemate with Malta in September 2011.
• Ireland haven’t gone four home games without a win in all competitions since May 2008, a run which they followed up with back-to-back wins that included one over Georgia.
• Against Gibraltar, Jeff Hendrick became the first Irish player to score for the national side under Mick McCarthy since Clinton Morrison netted against Russia in September 2002, 16 years and 197 days before.