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Sports Mole previews Friday's Nations League clash between Slovenia and Austria, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.

Slovenia will welcome Austria to Stozice Stadium on Friday evening, with the two teams locking horns in Group 3 of League B in the UEFA Nations League.

Both sides reached the last-16 stage of Euro 2024, with Slovenia losing on penalties to Portugal in the first knockout round, while Austria suffered a 2-1 defeat to Turkey.

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Match preview

© Imago

Slovenia's Euro 2024 campaign will undoubtedly go down as a huge success, having managed to reach the knockout round of the tournament in just their second-ever participation in the finals of a European Championship.

The national team will now switch their attention to the Nations League, and they will once again be competing in League B of the competition, but this time in Group 3 alongside Austria, Kazakhstan and Norway.

In 2022-23, Slovenia finished third in Group 4, picking up six points from their six matches, having gained promotion to League B due to finishing top of Group 3 of League C in 2020-21.

Matjaz Kek's side will tackle Austria and Norway during this international break, before taking on both Norway and Kazakhstan in October, and it will be interesting to see how the section unfolds.

Slovenia have only ever faced Austria on four previous occasions, and they have just one victory to their name, which proved to be a 2-0 success in their first meeting in a friendly back in March 1997.

© Imago

Austria, as mentioned, also progressed to the last-16 stage of Euro 2024, and they were tipped as potential outsiders for the trophy due to their strong performance in the group stage of the competition.

However, Ralf Rangnick's side came up just short, losing 2-1 to Turkey in the first knockout round, and their attention is now on the Nations League, with games to come against Slovenia and Norway during this international break.

Austria were relegated from League A in 2022-23 after finishing bottom of Group 1, picking up just four points from their six matches against Croatia, Denmark and France.

Das Team are on a three-game winning run against Slovenia, including a 1-0 success when the two teams last locked horns in a Euro 2020 qualification fixture in October 2019.

However, Austria have lost each of their last three matches in the Nations League, while they have not been victorious in the competition since a 3-0 success over Croatia in June 2022.

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Team News

© Imago

Slovenia's side is expected to be similar to the one that started against Portugal in the last-16 stage of Euro 2024, with Benjamin Sesko in line to feature in the final third of the field.

Sesko struggled to make his mark at the recent European Championship, but the 21-year-old has 11 goals in 33 games for his country, while he has started the 2024-25 campaign with one goal and two assists in three games for RB Leipzig.

Atletico Madrid's Jan Oblak will be another notable inclusion in the starting side, but 29-year-old defender Zan Karnicnik has not been selected in the current squad due to injury.

As for Austria, there should once again be a spot in the final third of the field for Marko Arnautovic, while Marcel Sabitzer and Konrad Laimer are also set to start for the visitors on Friday.

Michael Gregoritsch will be in Rangnick's thinking when it comes to a potential starting role, but he might have to accept a spot on the bench, with Christopher Baumgartner and Romano Schmid set to keep their spots.

Kevin Danso is likely to continue at right-back for Austria, while Nicolas Seiwald is expected to operate in midfield.

Slovenia possible starting lineup:
Oblak; Stojanovic, Drkusic, Bijol, Balkovec; Lovric, Cerin, Elsnik, Mlakar; Sporar, Sesko

Austria possible starting lineup:
Pentz; Posch, Danso, Lienhart, Mwene; Seiwald, Laimer; Schmid, Baumgartner, Sabitzer; Arnautovic

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We say: Slovenia 1-1 Austria

Both teams will believe that they can hurt the other in the final third of the field on Friday, and it is shaping up to be a very interesting game. We are struggling to separate them on this occasion, though, and have therefore had to settle on a low-scoring draw.

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

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