Serbia and Hungary square off on Thursday evening with the two nations locked on the same points in Group G.

Both sides came through their opening three Euro 2024 qualifying fixtures unbeaten and will back themselves to extend those streaks in Belgrade.

Match preview

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Having failed to win a game at the 2022 World Cup, Serbia have been attempting to redeem themselves and qualify for another major tournament.

Being held to a 1-1 draw in Bulgaria last time out would not have impressed their supporters, with Serbia requiring a last-gasp Darko Lazovic goal to earn a share of the spoils.

Nevertheless, it is a goal that could ultimately prove decisive with Serbia having previously opened their qualifying campaign with 2-0 wins over Lithuania and Montenegro respectively.

Dragan Stojkovic will be confident that a top-two position is more than within their grasp, yet the outcome of Thursday's fixture could potentially prove to be decisive.

While Serbia are favourites to win this fixture, Hungary prevailed on their last visit, emerging victorious by a 1-0 scoreline in a UEFA Nations League fixture back in October 2020.

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Like Serbia, Hungary would have had high hopes of collecting three wins in succession during the early part of qualifying, yet they have had to settle for seven points.

A goalless draw was recorded inn Montenegro, either side of wins over Bulgaria and Lithuania on home territory, and Marco Rossi's side are yet to concede a goal.

In their last 13 fixtures, the Magyars have only suffered defeat in two fixtures with Italy, with three victories over England and Germany occurring during that period.

Rossi will be confident that his team will eventually see off the threat of Montenegro and the chasing pack to seal a place at next year's Finals, yet defeat here and Montenegro beating Lithuania would see them sit level on points in second or third place in Group G.

Team News

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Having not been available for the last fixture, Aleksandar Mitrovic will return to the Serbia XI for this game.

Marko Grujic also appears in line to feature in midfield, with Sasa Lukic and Dejan Jovelijc each not in the squad.

Dusan Vlahovic also returns to the fold, but the Juventus forward is only expected to be selected among the replacements.

Rossi will make at least two changes to his Hungary starting lineup with Endre Botka and Daniel Gazdag both not included in the squad.

Adam Lang and Zsolt Kalmar appear most likely to be handed chances in defence and midfield, providing that Rossi sticks with a back three.

Although goalkeeper Peter Gulasci is back in the international setup after injury, Denes Dibusz should retain his spot between the sticks.

Serbia possible starting lineup:
V. Milinkovic-Savic; Gudelj, Milenkovic, Pavlovic; Zivkovic, Grujic, Maksimovic, Kostic; Tadic, S. Milinkovic-Savic; Mitrovic

Hungary possible starting lineup:
Dibusz; Lang, Orban, A. Szalai; Sallai, Styles, Nagy, Kalmar, Kerkez; Szoboszlai; Varga

We say: Serbia 2-0 Hungary

Although Hungary are a nation on the up and have kept clean sheets in their opening three games, this is their most difficult fixture in the group. Serbia are generally a formidable outfit in front of their own supporters, leading us to predict a hard-fought home win.

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

Written by
Darren Plant

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