Austria host Serbia on Thursday evening, looking to gain an advantage in their two-legged playoff for the right to play in Group A of the UEFA Nations League.
The hosts qualified for the playoffs as a result of finishing second in Group B3, ahead of Slovenia and Kazakhstan, and behind the group winners Norway.
Match preview
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Austria were unbeaten at home during the group stages, recording comfortable victories over Norway and Kazakhstan and drawing with Slovenia.
Their only defeat in the group stage came away to Norway, but it proved to be a costly loss, with the Norwegians finishing two points above them and earning automatic promotion to League A.
They will be hoping to take their good form from the league phase with them into the clash against Serbia, particularly their impressive goalscoring displays at home.
In their three home matches, Austria comfortably outscored their opponents by 10 goals to two, with the highlight being their 5-1 triumph against eventual group winners Norway.
Their good performance in the Nations League came after a reasonable display at Euro 2024, in which Austria surprised the footballing world by winning a group containing the heavyweights of France, Poland and the Netherlands.
Unfortunately for Austria, the fun ended there, as Turkey knocked them out in the last 16, but they have recovered well from that with their good results in the Nations League, and they now have a chance to reach League A for the second time in their history.
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In contrast, the visitors endured a difficult spell in Group A4, winning just once during their six matches in the group stage after being paired with Spain, Switzerland and Denmark.
Despite their struggles in the group, they finished four points ahead of Switzerland to avoid automatic relegation, and only two points behind Denmark in second, as Spain coasted to the top position in the group, with 16 points from six matches.
Their 2-0 victory against Switzerland in October is their only win in their last nine matches, having gone winless throughout Euro 2024.
Even more worrying for the Serbians ahead of this game, is their poor record away from home, with just two wins out of their last nine matches on their travels – excluding Euro 2024, which is classed as neutral.
Despite an underwhelming European Championship campaign last summer, and their struggles in the Nations League in the months since, Dragan Stojkovic remains in the job as head coach of the Serbian national team.
However, there has been speculation surrounding his future given their poor recent run - and although he extended his contract just last year, relegation back to League B could well see a change of management.
Austria and Serbia met as recently as June last year, as they played in a friendly in preparation for the European Championship.
Ralf Rangnick's side won 2-1 on that occasion, as goals from Patrick Wimmer and Christoph Baumgartner gave Austria a comfortable lead before Strahinja Pavlovic pulled one back for the visitors.
Das Team also won the last competitive meeting between the nations, when they won 3-2 in a World Cup qualifier in Vienna back in October 2017, so they can take confidence from their previous meetings with Serbia into this match.
Despite Serbia being in the higher division in the Nations League, Austria are ranked 10 spots above them in the FIFA world rankings, with Rangnick's men currently 22nd, while the visitors are 32nd.
Therefore, both sides will have a point to prove in this encounter, and the hosts will want to put themselves in a good position ahead of a difficult away leg in Belgrade at the weekend.
Team News
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In good news for the hosts, they have been boosted by the return of both David Alaba and Xaver Schlager from recent injuries.
However, Leeds United defender Maximilian Wober is not in the squad due to a recurring knee injury, while Stefan Posch and Kevin Danso both have thigh injuries.
Meanwhile, Raul Florucz could be in line to make his debut for Austria, having received his first call-up ahead of this game, and Konrad Laimer is suspended for this match.
The visitors will be without star man Aleksandar Mitrovic, who has had a number of health worries in recent months, while Ivan Ilic (illness) is also out and Nemanja Gudelj remains a doubt for the visitors.
Nottingham Forest's Nikola Milenkovic and AC Milan defender Pavlovic are both suspended for this encounter, as well as Andrija Zivkovic and Aleksa Terzic.
Elsewhere, there could be debuts for Zenit Saint Petersburg's Ognjen Mimovic, as well as FK Cukaricki forward Mihajlo Cvetkovic.
Austria possible starting lineup:
Pentz; Prass, Alaba, Lienhart, Mwene; Seiwald, Wimmer, Schmid, Baumgartner, Sabitzer; Arnautovic
Serbia possible starting lineup:
Rajkovic; Babic, Veljkovic, Erakovic; Birmancevic, Maksimovic, Lukic, Topic, Samardzic; Vlahovic, Jovic
We say: Austria 2-0 Serbia
Serbia have not been in great form over the past year, and they have a few key players out for this match, whereas Austria seem to be making some good progress under Rangnick.
They will need a comfortable lead to take with them into the tricky return leg, and we think that they can win by two goals here to set themselves up nicely for Sunday's crunch match.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Tom Humphrey
