Lebanon will look to continue placing pressure on the top two teams in Group A on Tuesday night when they are back in action hosting United Arab Emirates.
The visitors have not won a game yet in the World Cup 2022 qualifying campaign, and they will be looking to bounce back from their recent defeat.
Match preview
These two teams kicked off their respective journeys in Group A against each other in the opening game where they shared the spoils in a goalless match.
Since then Lebanon have picked up another four points, with one draw and a hard-fought victory against Syria, which saw them come out on top of a five-goal thriller.
However, they were unable to continue that momentum during their most recent outing, as they fell short in a 2-1 loss against the current table-toppers Iran.
Despite the fact that Ivan Hasek's team only had 29% of the possession, they will have been disappointed to not walk away with all three points.
Hassan Ali Saad had given his team the lead in the first half and they held onto that until stoppage time at the end of the game where Iran scored twice in order to win.
On the other hand, the visitors were also defeated in their most recent performance, falling short against South Korea, with a penalty in the first half proving to be decisive.
United Arab Emirates have yet to win a match in Group A, with three points to their name after a trio of draws within the opening five fixtures.
The squad have only managed to score three times so far, which is something that the squad needs to improve upon in order to start climbing up the table.
However, as they only sit one point above Syria at the moment, a defeat on Tuesday could see them slump to the foot of the table, which the team will be keen to avoid.
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Team News
Lebanon continued with the 4-4-2 formation against Iran and put together a strong performance that almost saw them secure a surprising three points.
Bassel Jradi and Mohamad Kdouh continued as the two strikers in that match and once again that should be how the squad is set out, with the duo aiming to cause as many problems as possible.
Sebastian Tagliabue was provided an opportunity from the bench for United Arab Emirates against South Korea, and he could end up being used from the start in this particular fixture after impressing.
Ali Mabkhout will be sure to lead the line on Tuesday as he nears his 100th cap for his country, having scored 78 goals throughout that period as the main attacking threat for the team.
Lebanon possible starting lineup:
Matar; Assi, Melki, F. Melki, Al Zein; Haidar, Dhaini, Matar, Saad; Jradi, Kdouh
United Arab Emirates possible starting lineup:
Khasif; Barqesh, Abbas, Al Attas, Al-Ahbabi; Salmeen, Ramadan; Caio, Tagliabue, Alzaabi; Mabkhout
We say: Lebanon 1-0 United Arab Emirates
Lebanon will see this as a must-win game considering they are already six points adrift of second place, and with the visitors having not won yet in this campaign, they will be confident of making it happen.
Having the home advantage will no doubt play a factor as well, giving them the added benefit of having their fanbase behind them, which should lead to a victory.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a United Arab Emirates win with a probability of 52.67%. A draw had a probability of 25.1% and a win for Lebanon had a probability of 22.18%.
The most likely scoreline for a United Arab Emirates win was 0-1 with a probability of 12.74%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-2 (10.12%) and 1-2 (9.46%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (11.9%), while for a Lebanon win it was 1-0 (7.5%). The actual scoreline of 0-1 was predicted with a 12.7% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted a 0-1 win for United Arab Emirates in this match.
