SOCCER: Estonia v Rep of IrelandTHAT OLD chestnut about the Irish actually preferring to be the underdogs has been doing the rounds a fair bit since the draw for these play-offs was made a month or so ago. Come kick-off tonight Giovanni Trapattoni will be desperately hoping that it's not true because, much as he might like everyone to think otherwise, his side head into this evening's first leg in Tallinn as very firm favourites to progress.

In truth, good sides are generally unperturbed by the weight of such expectation but the Italian, one suspects, is as concerned as the rest of us that his players may somehow end up not managing to make their superiority tell.

Their qualification group by the end featured higher seeds who fell by the wayside as Estonia sprang one surprise after another and the 72 year-old is clearly anxious that what might well be his last chance to mix it with his peers on a great stage could end in similar ignominy.

In recent days he has intensified his campaign to persuade the team’s supporters that this is an encounter between equals but, for all the progress made by Ireland’s opponents under Tarmo Ruutli, it remains a hard line to swallow.

The one undeniable fact is that, thanks in no small part to a remarkable run of results on the road, Estonia deservedly finished second in a group that was almost universally expected to send Serbia or Slovenia to these play-offs.

After that Trapattoni has repeatedly seized upon the fact they scored the same number of goals along the way as Ireland did.

The similarities pretty much end there, however, with the Estonians also conceding 14 goals in their 10 games and failing to keep a solitary clean sheet while Ireland’s corresponding figures are seven and five respectively.

Six of Estonia’s goals came in their two games late on in the campaign against Northern Ireland which certainly hints at an improving side but Nigel Worthington’s side, albeit a depleted version, provided an insight into its defensive abilities in Dublin in May when they conceded five.

Things were little better as they lost 4-1 here in the autumn as mistakes by Lee Camp, Chris Baird and Gareth McAuley made life pretty easy for the hosts.

In Belfast Estonia’s star player, Konstantin Vasseljev, came off the bench to turn the game around and earn his side a dramatic win with two late goals. The 27 -year-old attacking midfielder, who likes to play off lone striker, Jarmo Ahjupera, got five in all over the course of the campaign (as many as Robbie Keane and in slightly less time on the field) and he certainly has the potential to be a threat tonight, not least because of his fierce drive from distance.

But the growing ability of Trapattoni’s side to smother opponents through the centre has been at the heart of their improved results and successive clean sheets this year and they are certainly not unaware of need to contain him.

They go into this game, in fact, having conceded just one goal in nine games and with a positive goal difference for 2011 to date of plus-16 compared to minus-11 for opponents who are undoubtedly well organised and play with great collective spirit but who, man for man, look to possess significantly inferior players.

They are not helped by the absence of Sergei Zenjov, who should return from suspension on Tuesday, and if they are to cause Ireland sustained difficulties over the course of the 90 minutes tonight, rather than grab a goal through a Vasseljev long-range effort or Raio Piiroja getting on to the end of a set-piece, then Tarmo Kink and Dmitri Krulov will have to trouble Trapattoni’s men where they are most vulnerable in defence – out wide.

That, though, should be where Ireland can prosper themselves going forward. Damien Duff has been eclipsed a few times in this campaign by Aiden McGeady and it is a pity to see him used so much on the right side these days but both he and the Spartak winger should have the chance to shine tonight.

Up front, Trapattoni said last night that he was still undecided as to whether to start with Simon Cox and bring Jonathan Walters on or use them the other way around. There may, in the enforced absence of Shane Long and Kevin Doyle, be an argument for going with either order but Walters, if his early appearances for Ireland are anything to go by, looks to have the potential to do the greater damage here.

Robbie Keane, of course, is sure to start and the Irish skipper maintained last night that Ireland will look to win this game if for no other reason, he claimed, than because it is impossible to play for a draw. A search of the recent Irish television archives, one suspects, might provide the basis for a decent rebuttal and if Trapattoni’s side have not initially set out in search of a single point in some of their more important games over the last couple of years then they have certainly looked happy enough to settle for one at times.

The same will doubtless be true if the situation arises tonight and a draw, particularly a score one, would be a healthy enough return from this first game while a win, however scrappily it might be achieved, would provide a real basis for confidence.

Against a side emboldened, no doubt, by its performances in Belfast, Belgrade and Ljubljana neither would necessarily be enough to persuade Tarmo Ruutli and co the tie is beyond them but that would be a matter for Tuesday.

The critical thing is that Ireland do not leave themselves to chase things in the return leg by making this the first away competitive game they have lost under Trapattoni because at that stage their opponents might actually start to believe the Italian’s banter about there being no favourites in play-off games.

Tallinn teams: How they'll line-up

Estonia (4-4-1-1)

Sergei Pareiko (Wisla Kraków);

Enar Jaager (Aalesund),

Raio Piiroja (Vitesse),

Taavi Rahn (Tianjin Songjiang),

Ragnar Klavan (AZ Alkmaar);

Tarmo Kink (Middlesbrough),

Aleksandr Dimitriyev (FC Eural),

Michael Vunk (NEA Salamis),

Dmitri Kruglov (FC Rostov);

Konstantin Vasilyev (Amkar Perm);

Jarmo Ahjupera (Gyori ETO FC).

Republic of Ireland (4-4-2)

Shay Given (Aston Villa);

Stephen Kelly (Fulham),

Richard Dunne (Aston Villa),

Seán St Ledger (Leicester City),

Stephen Ward (Wolves);

Damien Duff (Fulham),

Keith Andrews (Ipswich Town),

Glenn Whelan (Stoke City),

Aiden McGeady (S Moscow);

Robbie Keane (LA Galaxy),

Jonathan Walters (Stoke City) orSimon Cox (West Brom).

Referee: Viktor Kassai (Hungary)