Serbia vs Ireland
European Qualifiers – 2018 World Cup
Date: Monday; 5-September-2016
Kick-off: 19:45 UK
Venue: Rajko Mitic Stadium, Beograd.


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Serbia seek for a new start after a troubled qualifying campaign for the Euro 2016. A forfeited match against Albania in which their opponents were awarded a 3-0 win and further 3 point deduction resulted in Serbia finish second from bottom of their qualifying group. Slavoljub Muslin took over as the new head-coach on May 2016 and has a big task in rebuilding the squad to compete with the elite Europe.

While Ireland are coming on the back of a morale boosting 4-0 win over Oman on Wednesday. They had a decent campaign at the European Championship in France after reaching the knock-out stages of the tournament. With Martin O’Neil still at the hot seat and core of the players unchanged, Ireland will be hoping to kick start their World Cup qualifying campaign on a positive note.

Serbia vs Ireland: Head-to-Head

Serbia are unbeaten against Ireland in the three meeting between the two sides so far. The latest meeting was on March 2014 at Dublin which resulted in a 2-1 win for Serbia. While the previous two meetings were draws.

All the three previous meetings between Ireland and Serbia were international friendlies and this European World Cup qualifier will be their first ever competitive meeting.

Serbia vs Ireland: Prediction

Serbia are unbeaten in their last four friendlies with 3 wins and a draw in their last game against Russia. However the wins have come against lower ranked sides like Estonia, Cyprus and Israel. But Ireland is a different proportion and are a tough defensive unit which will prove hard to break down. But the Green Army haven’t done well in away matches as they are left with 2 wins from the last 15 trips. At the same what they do with great effect in their travels is hold the opposition to a stalemate. And a low scoring draw can be expected here as well.

Serbia vs Ireland: Betting Tips

Under 2.5 goals at 8/15 (1.53).