Serbia vs Austria: Preview and Prediction

Serbia vs Austria
European Qualifiers – 2018 World Cup
Date: Sunday, 9th October 2016
Kick-off: 19:45 UK
Venue: Stadion Rajko Mitic, Beograd.

Austria were held to a 2-2 draw at home by Wales on the matchday 2 Group D fixture on Thursday evening. As expected the Austrians were disappointing and conceded the lead twice in the match. Marco Arnautovic strike twice in either halves to cancel out goal from Joe Allen and an own goal from Kevin Wimmer.

Serbia as expected earned a comfortable 3-0 win at Georgia. Having drawn at home against Republic of Ireland in their opening match, Serbia are level on points with Austria, Ireland and Wales. This makes matchday 3 of Group D interesting, particularly the clash between Austria and Serbia as Ireland and Wales have relatively weaker opponents in Moldova and Georgia.

Serbia vs Austria: Head-to-Head Stats

The only two competitive meetings between Austria and Serbia came during the qualifying group stage for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The Serbians won both matches on that occasion, with a 1-0 win at home and 3-1 away at Austria.

Serbia vs Austria: Prediction

Austria’s form at the moment is certainly questionable. They were quoted as heavy favourites for the Wales match, as we predicted the visitors managed to come out with a point. The dip in form has happened during the latter part of the Euro qualifiers which continues throughout a disappointing Euro 2016 campaign.

Serbian have improved a lot after a disappointing Euro qualifying campaign. The side looks settled under the new manager and have plenty of quality at their disposal. They are currently on a 6 matches unbeaten run in all venues and will be high on confidence. This could turn out to be a tough fixture for the Austrians. And we believe the Serbs could come out with at least a point from this fixture.