Portugal and Serbia set for cagey WCQ showdown

Portugal vs Serbia - 14/11/2021

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It’s winner takes all at Lisbon’s Estadio da Luz on Sunday night as Portugal and Serbia battle it out for World Cup qualification.

As we head into the final round of qualifiers, the two sides are locked on 17 points at the top of Group A, with Portugal sitting just ahead of Serbia on goal difference.

Portugal had the chance to gain an advantage over Serbia on Thursday, but were held to a goalless draw by Ireland.

Despite racking up 12 attempts, Fernando Santos’ men only managed to register three shots on target last time out.

Portugal remain unbeaten in WCQ Group A, having picked up five wins and two draws from their seven outings so far.

They have scored 16 goals along the way (2.3 goals per game) and have only conceded four at the other end of the pitch (0.6 goals per game).

However, Santos’ side are in real danger of missing out on automatic qualification for the World Cup after a couple of unwanted draws.

On the flip side, Serbia head into Sunday’s clash on the back of a thumping 4-0 friendly victory over Qatar.

Sasa Lukic, Luka Jovic, Dusan Vlahovic and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic got on the scoresheet as Serbia enjoyed 64% possession and racked up 16 shots.

Serbia extended their unbeaten streak to six games on Thursday, having secured five wins and one draw in that time.

Let’s not forget that Serbia have yet to taste defeat in this World Cup qualifying campaign, with five wins and two draws to their name.

It is also worth pointing out that four of Serbia’s previous six encounters have dished up over 3.5 goals.

Head-to-head: Portugal and Serbia have faced each other on seven occasions over the years. Unfortunately for the Serbs, they have yet to beat the Portuguese.

Portugal have beaten Serbia three times since 2007. The other four encounters have ended in a draw, including the last meeting back in March.

Team news: Injured trio Bernardo Silva, Anthony Lopes, Rafa Silva and Joao Mario will play no part on Sunday. However, uncapped goalkeeper Jose Sa could make his debut.

It is also worth noting that veteran defender Pepe is suspended for Sunday’s clash after receiving a red card last time out.

Serbia have no injury concerns and could start with the lethal trio of Luka Jovic, Dusan Vlahovic and Aleksandar Mitrovic in attack.

Both sides will be desperate to avoid defeat on Sunday, meaning we should see a tight and cagey encounter.

With that mind, Forebet predicts that Portugal and Serbia will produce a low-scoring draw in Lisbon.

Home team
Away team

Probability %

1X2

Pred

Correct score

Avg. goals

Weather conditions

Coef.

Score

Live
coef.

WCQ

Portugal Serbia 14/11/2021 20:45

394120

X

1 - 1

2.77

18°

4.20

1.55 4.20 5.50 -1 -1 1

FT

1 - 2(1 - 1)

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