Fresh off the back of clinching qualification for the 2022 World Cup, Iran play hosts to United Arab Emirates at the Azadi Soccer Field on Tuesday.
The visitors are currently in the qualification playoff spot as they occupy third place in Group A after picking up nine points from seven games.
Match preview
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Iran confirmed their place at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar later this year when they claimed a hard-earned 1-0 victory over rivals Iraq in Tehran last Thursday.
After failing to tuck home several clear-cut scoring chances in the first half, 29-year-old forward Mehdi Taremi came up trumps for Team Melli as he found the target three minutes after the interval to condemn the visitors to their third group defeat.
Dragan Skocic's men have enjoyed a sensational qualifying journey, winning six and playing out one draw to collect 19 points and sit at the summit of Group A with a two-point lead over second-placed South Korea.
Iran also head into Tuesday's game unbeaten in each of their last 14 outings, picking up an impressive 13 wins and one draw since a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Iraq in the second round of World Cup qualifying games back in 2019.
This run has been down to their sensational job done at both ends of the pitch as they have scored 36 goals since that defeat, while shipping just four and keeping 10 clean sheets in that time.
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With their place in Qatar confirmed, Iran will now begin laying the building blocks as they look to surpass their run in Russia four years ago, where they crashed out in the group stages after finishing third in Group B with four points from three games.
United Arab Emirates, on the other hand, made it two wins from two World Cup qualifying games last time out when they saw off a struggling Syria side 2-0 on home turf.
In a thrilling contest at the Al-Maktoum Stadium, Caio Canedo put UAE ahead on the stroke of half time before substitute Yahya Alghassani made sure of the result almost immediately after replacing Khalil Ibrahim in the 69th minute.
Prior to that, the Whites picked up six points from three games to finish second in Group B of the Arab Cup before suffering a humbling 5-0 defeat at the hands of Qatar in the knockout stages back in December.
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Having struggled to impose themselves in the qualifiers so far, the win over Syria saw United Arab Emirates strengthen their position in the qualification playoff spot as they have now picked up nine points from seven games to sit third in the table with a healthy four-point lead over fourth-place Lebanon.
With just three games left to play, Bert van Marwijk's side know more dropped points could thwart their chances of ending their two-decade absence and returning to the biggest stage of world football.
However, next up is the daunting task of going up against a rampant Iran side who they have failed to defeat in the last seven meetings between the teams since 2008, losing five and managing two draws in that time.
United Arab Emirates' last and only World Cup appearance came back in 1990 when they were sent packing in the group stage after losing all three games to finish rock bottom in Group D.
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Team News
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On the back of booking their ticket to the Finals in Qatar, Skocic could hand starting opportunities to a few fringe players with regulars like Shoja Khalilzadeh and Saeid Ezatolahi dropping to the substitutes' bench.
Siavash Yazdani, who was recently called up to the squad, could be handed his debut and team up with Hossein Kanaani at the heart of the defence.
Taremi has been a star performer for Iran, netting five goals in nine World Cup qualifying games, and we expect the Porto forward to lead the attack once again.
Meanwhile, Van Marwijk could put out a familiar starting side on Tuesday following his side's dominant display in last Thursday's 2-0 victory over Syria.
Alghassani staked his claim for a starting role after finding the target one minute off the bench in the aforementioned game and the 23-year-old could team up with Canedo in attack.
Iran possible starting lineup:
Abedzadeh; Moharrami, Yazdani, Kanani, Noorafkan; Sarlak, Ezatolahi, Ghoddos; Gholizadeh, Amiri; Taremi
United Arab Emirates possible starting lineup:
Khasif; Khamees, Abbas, Al-Attas, Al Hammadi; Salmeen, Ramadan, Alzaabi, Saleh; Canedo, Alghassani
We say: Iran 2-0 United Arab Emirates
Iran head into Tuesday's game in superb form, dropping points just once in their last 14 games across all competitions. UAE picked up a morale-boosting win last time out and will look to keep the momentum going. While the hosts have already booked their place in Qatar, we predict they will continue their fine run in the group and come away with all three points.
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 Iran win with a probability of 56.78%. A draw had a probability of 22.5% and a win for United Arab Emirates had a probability of 20.76%.
The most likely scoreline for a Iran win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.2%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.91%) and 2-0 (9.54%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (10.6%), while for a United Arab Emirates win it was 0-1 (5.67%). The actual scoreline of 1-0 was predicted with a 10.2% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted a 1-0 win for Iran in this match and our team at Sports Mole correctly predicted the win for Iran.
