All Ireland so far, Jeff Hendrick looks for a long ball over the top but he can't hook up with Aiden O'Brien in attack.

Image source, Reuters

Yep, Cyrus Christie is in midfield.

A reminder that you can follow this massive game for Germany - and the Brazil v Argentina friendly - over here.

And away we go!

The Uefa graphics have Cyrus Christie in midfield as well. Coventry's answer to Philip Lahm?

Two cracking anthems, you have to say.

The Welsh Xavi > Gareth Bale

Richard: People calling Wales a one man team are forgetting that Joe Allen was our best player at the Euros.

Anthems time, the Aviva a long way from full. The Nations League not quite got everyone firing just yet?

Image source, Getty Images

Danny Gabbidon
Former Wales defender on BBC Radio 5 Live

I don't think we should get too carried away with the youth in the Wales team as we're still quite naive. The performance was very poor against Spain but like the squad, we have a young manager who's not afraid to throw players into the team whatever their age.

I think tonight it'll be an exciting performance from Wales, they'll be on the front foot, pressing and using their excellent front three.

The players are in the tunnel. Wayne Hennessey a monolith in there. If you ever meet a goalkeeeper out of context it's always a surpise just how massive they are.

Apart from Shay Given.

Martin O'Neill pretty fired up in the tunnel, he says "I want them to be positive and confident on the ball, show the crowd you can play this game."

Dafydd Pritchard
BBC Sport Wales at the Aviva Stadium

If you don't like heights, I wouldn't recommend covering a game at the Aviva Stadium.

It's a long way down from the press box here.

The stats feed which we get here at BBC Sport towers, by the way, have Ireland lining up with a back three and Fulham right-back Cyrus Christie playing in central midfield.

We shall see!

Wales scored four goals in their win over Ireland last month, as many as they’d netted in their previous 11 clashes against the Boys in Green.

There's no Ramsey or Bale of course - who is going to score for Wales in their absence?

Journey on the PA. We're almost at kick-off in Dublin...

A David Brooks highlights reel is being run on Sky right now - he's the man tasked with filling Gareth Bale's boots tonight.

NO PRESSURE DAVE.

Image source, PA

Andy Townsend
Ex-Republic of Ireland midfielder on BBC Radio 5 live

It's not belittling players, it's just a fact, Republic of Ireland just don't have players operating at the top of the game now.

There are other ways to combat the opposition. High energy, plenty of work rate, especially on your own patch. If we think we are going to roll it out from the back and encourage players to play, we will go backwards at an even quicker rate of knots.

To back up Conor's point there, in the Republic of Ireland's 2002 World Cup squad, six played for the top six Premier League clubs that season, and 18 of the 23 played for top division clubs in England or Scotland.

In the current squad, only eight play in the Premier League, with none playing for the sides who finished in the top six last season.

Conor McNamara
BBC Radio 5 live commentator

Image source, Getty Images

Frankly, there aren’t enough players playing at big clubs for the Republic.

Back when the Republic of Ireland used to regularly qualify for major tournaments in the late 80s and early 90s so many of the players used to play for clubs like Manchester United and Liverpool.

Image source, Getty Images

Even in the early noughties when Mick McCarthy qualified for Japan and Korea almost all of that team were playing top flight football for decent teams.

Now, most of the squad play below the top flight and personally I think that is the problem, more than the management and the politics, it's quite simply that at the moment Ireland don’t have the players.

Defeat for Ireland tonight would see them staring at relegation to League C. Things might get worse before they get any better.