Montenegro play host to Finland in the UEFA Nations League on Monday evening looking for the win which will secure second place in League B Group 3.

Meanwhile, Finland head into the contest knowing that only three points will guarantee that they avoid relegation to Group C.

Match preview

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Montenegro entered this competition on the back of two wins from 12 fixtures, not the most encouraging form when there were ambitions to challenge for top spot.

A 2-0 win over Romania in their opening match changed expectations, but Miodrag Radulovic's side have been left with seven points from their five outings thus far.

That is enough to avoid relegation, which was their minimum target, and the Brave Falcons were in contention for promotion until they succumbed to a pivotal 1-0 defeat in Bosnia-Herzegovina on Friday evening.

On one hand, Radulovic will be satisfied with the positives which have come out of this campaign, while also recognising that their two victories have been against Romania.

Stefan Mugosa, who is second in the goalscoring charts for this tier, has also netted each of his four strikes against the same opponents.

Meanwhile, Finland head into this contest hoping that Bosnia-Herzegovina can do them a favour in the other match by defeating bottom-placed Romania, subsequently securing their survival in League B.

However, Markku Kanerva must approach this game with the mentality that Romania could cause a surprise, and they will also want to get their own form back on track.

The Eagle-owls have gone three games without a win, their last success coming by a 2-0 scoreline versus Montenegro in the reverse fixture in June.

Although they took a step in the right direction with a 1-1 draw against Romania last time out, Finland held a winning position and squandered the chance to end any concerns regarding relegation on home territory.

Team News

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Montenegro will be without Adam Marusic after he collected his second yellow card of the campaign in the last match.

Sead Haksabanovic could return to the side on the left-hand side of midfield, but changes may be few and far between given their desire to finish as runners-up.

Mugosa is in contention for a recall in the final third after only starting as a substitute in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Rasmus Schuller is an injury doubt for Finland having needed to be withdrawn during the closing stages of the Romania fixture.

Should he miss out, either Kaan Kairinen or Lucas Lingman will come into the midfield, with Joel Pohjanpalo also pushing for a recall in attack ahead of Fredrik Jensen.

Montenegro possible starting lineup:
Mijatovic; Vesovic, Vujacic, Tomasevic, Radunovic; Osmajic, Jankovic, Scekic, Haksabanovic; Savicevic, Jovetic

Finland possible starting lineup:
Hradecky; Alho, Ivanov, Jensen, Vaisanen, Uronen; Kairinen, Kamara; Valakari; Pohjanpalo, Pukki

We say: Montenegro 2-1 Finland

Given the contrasting pressure on the two nations, this game may come down to how Finland approach getting the result that they require. That said, we cannot ignore that Montenegro deserve to be regarded as favourites on home territory, and we feel that they will run out winners by the odd goal in three.

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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