Midfield will be key battleground for Ireland against Bosnia

Stop Edin Dzeko and you stop Bosnia. That’s the theory anyway, but like a lot of football theories, it is, at best, only part of the story.

Dzeko does have an impressive scoring record: 44 in 74 international matches puts him ahead of most of the world’s leading strikers. In terms of goals per game, he’s up there with David Villa, Didier Drogba and Ronaldo – the Brazilian one, he’s well ahead of the Portuguese.

Like most prolific strikers, Dzeko has filled his boots against weak opposition, including hat-tricks against Andorra and Liechtenstein. But he has also become Belgium’s bogey with five goals in four World Cup and European qualifiers. He had a great record for Wolfsburg in Germany as well as with Manchester City – for three seasons anyway.