Germany coach Joachim Loew says his side will face a tougher task in Thursday's Euro 2016 qualifier against the Republic of Ireland than they did in Glasgow last month.

Loew's men will qualify for next summer's finals with a win or a draw in Dublin, and could also book their place should Scotland beat Poland in Hampden Park.

The Group D leaders travelled to Dublin with a full-strength squad, and promising to make few, if any changes to the side that beat Gordon Strachan's Scotland 3-2 last month.

Scotland battled back twice from a goal behind, but could find no response to Ilkay Gundogan's third strike that sealed victory and allowed Ireland to leap ahead of the Scots into third place.

Thanks to their back-to-back wins in the September double header against Gibraltar and Georgia, Martin O'Neill's men have their qualification fate in their own hands.

"They have it all to play for -- they're still in with a chance to qualify directly for France, and have an excellent chance to come third," said Loew.

"They will fight to the very last minute. I think Ireland are famous for defending very well, and if you look at the past encounters of our two nations then you don't always get 6-1 results (on Germany's last visit to Dublin).

"In most cases it was a game of attrition.

"Physically they are stronger than Scotland and also as far as attacking play goes they are more imaginative than the Scots, so we have to look out for that.

"They know how to make life hard for us, they can be very physical, and can score on the counter."

Loew gave his players the day off on Monday and Tuesday following a demanding weekend, but O'Neill has endured a fair more stressful build up, with injuries and suspensions hampering his plans.

Midfielder Glenn Whelan is suspended along with James McClean while Everton full-back Seamus Coleman was ruled out of the game following training.

"Seamus had a day off because he has worked exceptionally hard for the last couple of days and done very well indeed but he will not be playing in the game," O'Neill revealed.

"He was almost in contention a few times for Everton, so he's getting better all the time.

"I think he will be absolutely and utterly fine for Sunday (against Poland)."

Wes Hoolahan (ankle), Cyrus Christie (hip) and Darron Gibson (foot) all trained on Wednesday.

Derby County full-back Christie is likely to make only his second start in place of Coleman.

"Obviously Cyrus wants to play. He's very, very keen to do so," said O'Neill.

"He's fine. The physios have done a little bit of work on him and he feels much freer. He's ready to go."