Austria will be looking to round off their World Cup 2022 qualification campaign on a positive note when they welcome Group F strugglers Moldova on Monday night.
The home side are currently fourth in the section, having picked up 13 points from nine matches, while Moldova are bottom with just a single point to show from their nine games thus far.
Match preview
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Austria have not actually qualified for the finals of a World Cup since France 1998, and they will not be present at next year's tournament, with 13 points from nine matches leaving them fourth in Group F, seven points behind second-placed Scotland with just one game left.
Das Team have struggled to find any sort of consistency in the group, winning four, drawing one and losing four of their nine matches, scoring 15 times and conceding 16 in the process.
Austria have won two of their last three fixtures in the section, including a 4-2 home success over Israel on Friday, but they have lost three of their last five to Israel, Scotland and Denmark.
Franco Foda's side will be aiming to give their supporters something to cheer in their final World Cup 2022 qualification fixture, and the national team have been victorious in their last five matches against Moldova, including a 2-0 success in the reverse fixture back in September.
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Moldova, meanwhile, have never qualified for the finals of a World Cup or European Championship, and they have found it incredibly difficult to compete during this qualification campaign.
Indeed, a record of zero wins, one draw and eight defeats from nine matches has seen them collect just a single point to occupy last position in the table.
Moldova have only scored four times in Group F and conceded 26, and they shipped eight away to Denmark in their second match in the section back in March.
Roberto Bordin's side will enter Monday's contest off the back of a 2-0 home defeat to Scotland, with Nathan Patterson and Che Adams on the scoresheet for the visitors.
Moldova have found it tough to match Austria in their recent meetings, but they did record a 1-0 victory when the two teams locked horns in June 2003, with Viorel Frunza netting the only goal of the contest.
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Team News
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Austria have no injury concerns from their victory over Israel on Friday, and head coach Foda is expected to resist the temptation to make wholesale changes to his XI for this match.
Indeed, the home side will be looking to end their qualifying campaign with a strong performance, so the likes of David Alaba, Marcel Sabitzer and Marko Arnautovic should again be in the side.
Louis Schaub scored twice off the bench against Israel, though, and could now come into the XI, while there might be a change at the back, with Aleksandar Dragovic in line to feature.
Moldova, meanwhile, are again expected to line up in a 3-5-2 formation on Monday, with Radu Ginsari, who is the leading goalscorer in the squad with seven, featuring in the final third.
Artur Ionita, who plays his club football in Italy for Benevento, should again line up in midfield, while Ion Nicolaescu is also likely to operate in an attacking area for the visitors.
Austria possible starting lineup:
Bachmann; Trimmel, Lienhart, Dragovic, Alaba; Seiwald, Grillitsch; Schaub, Sabitzer, Grull; Arnautovic
Moldova possible starting lineup:
Namasco; Jardan, Posmac, Bolohan; Revenco, Rata, Dros, Ionita, Marandici; Ginsari, Nicolaescu
We say: Austria 2-0 Moldova
Moldova have found it difficult to compete in this section, and we are struggling to back the visitors to end their qualifying campaign on a positive note. Austria have superior quality all over the pitch and should have too much for their opponents on Monday night.
Matt Law
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 Austria win with a probability of 67.87%. A draw had a probability of 21.7% and a win for Moldova had a probability of 10.38%.
The most likely scoreline for an Austria win was 1-0 with a probability of 17.69%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (15.74%) and 3-0 (9.34%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 0-0 (9.94%), while for a Moldova win it was 0-1 (5.26%). The actual scoreline of 4-1 was predicted with a 2.2% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Austria would win this match.
