Brooks braced for an Irish backlash

WALES expect Republic of Ireland to have revenge in mind in Dublin on Tuesday, but David Brooks is aiming to repeat the result from Cardiff last month.

Ryan Giggs’ side beat the Irish 4-1 in their opening Nations League clash and ahead of the reverse fixture, Brooks believes Wales can win again by taking the attacking initiative.

Brooks has been in sparkling form, scoring twice in two games for Bournemouth and coming off the bench against Spain to set up Sam Vokes’s consolation goal last Thursday night.

Wales have a full training session today and Giggs will make a call on Gareth Bale before heading to Dublin. It looks unlikely, though, the Real Madrid star will play.

Brooks remains confident, however, that Wales can come away with a positive result.

‘Ireland will want revenge for what happened at our place,’ said the 21-year-old. ‘We’re expecting a tough test but, hopefully, we can get the same result again.’

Giggs will lean on Aaron Ramsey for creativity and the Arsenal midfielder has additional motivation after his club withdrew the offer of a new contract. Chris Gunter believes the Gunners have made a mistake.

The Wales defender said: ‘Aaron is one of the highest scoring midfielders Arsenal have ever had. If they do lose him, they need to spend lot of money to replace him.’