Preview: Croatia vs Czech Republic - prediction, team news, lineups

Croatia and Czech Republic will round off their respective UEFA Nations League Group A3 campaigns with a clash on Sunday night.

The home team will enter the match off the back of a 2-1 loss to England, while Czech Republic were beaten 2-0 by Spain in their last fixture.

Match preview

A record of one win and four defeats has brought Croatia three points in Group A3, with the national team currently sitting third in the table.

The Checkered Ones cannot qualify for the quarter-finals of the competition and are instead bidding to finish third ahead of Czech Republic.

Slaven Bilic's side will claim third if they avoid defeat on Sunday, and they will be determined to finish what has been a disappointing Nations League campaign on a positive note.

Croatia opened their Group A3 campaign with a 2-1 victory over Czech Republic, but they have since been beaten twice by both Spain and England.

The Checkered Ones are actually unbeaten against Czech Republic, winning four and drawing three of their previous seven matches with Sunday's opponents.

Czech Republic had no answer to Spain's class on Thursday, and the Representatives are at the bottom of Group A3 on zero points from five matches.

Santi Denia's side opened their campaign with a 2-1 defeat to Croatia, before losing twice to both England and Spain, and it has been a tough Nations League campaign for them.

Czech Republic will finish fourth unless they are able to overcome Croatia.

The Representatives last played in League B in 2024-25, but they are facing relegation to that stage for the next Nations League campaign.

Denia's side have only managed to find the back of the net twice in their five matches, with a lack of a reliable goalscorer proving to be incredibly problematic.

Croatia Nations League form:

Croatia form (all competitions):

Czech Republic Nations League form:

Czech Republic form (all competitions):

Team News

Croatia have no players suspended for this match, and they will welcome Ivan Perisic back into their squad, with the experienced attacker serving a ban against England.

Luka Modric could be introduced into the starting side, having featured off the bench last time out, with the 41-year-old in line to win his 208th cap.

Ante Budimir is an option in the final third of the field, but the expectation is that Igor Matanovic will continue through the middle for the home side.

Czech Republic, meanwhile, will be missing Ladislav Krejci, with the centre-back picking up his second red card of this Nations League against Spain.

Adam Hlozek has scored five times in 51 appearances for his country, and the 24-year-old is expected to continue in the final third of the field.

There could also be an introduction into the team for the experienced Tomas Soucek.

Croatia possible starting lineup:

Livakovic; Smolcic, Stanisic, Vuskovic, Gvardiol; Modric, Kovacic; Sucic, Baturina, Vlasic; Matanovic

Czech Republic possible starting lineup:

Kovar; Coufal, Zima, Vicek, Jurasek; Kral, Soucek; Ambros, Hlozek, Provod; Naderi

We say: Croatia 2-1 Czech Republic

Both teams have struggled in this Nations League campaign, and we are expecting Sunday's match to be close in terms of the scoreline, but Croatia should be able to navigate their way to their second win in the section.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.