Serbia v Portugal Tips: Ronaldo & Co to get the job done against Serbia
Live on Sky Sports, Serbia go up against the star-studded Portugal team this Saturday at 7.45pm at the Stadion Rajko Mitic in Group A. Serbia are coming off a 3-2 win over Ireland on Wednesday thanks to a brace by Aleksandar Mitrovic while Portugal took all 3 points against Azerbaijan in a 1-0 win courtesy of an own goal. Serbia have never managed to defeat Portugal in their six attempts against them – D3 L3 and will need a huge effort if they are to claim their first ever win against them here. This is expected to be Portugal’s toughest game during the qualification phase and the winner will take a huge step towards world cup qualification.
Team News:
Serbia have a fully fit squad heading into this game. Rui Patricio, Pepe and Raphael Guerreiro are out for Portugal.
Serbia possible starting lineup:
Dmitrovic, Milenkovic, Mitrovic, Pavlovic, Lazovic, Savic, Lukic, Kostic, Tadic, Mitrovic, Vlahovic
Portugal possible starting lineup:
Lopes, Cancelo, Duarte, Dias, Mendes, Silva, Fernandes, Neves, Jota, Felix, Ronaldo
Portugal are undefeated in their last 6 meetings vs Serbia and I fully expect them to raise their game here. Serbia conceded 2 goals against an Ireland side that had not scored a single goal in their last 7 outings last time out. The likes of Ronaldo, Felix and Bruno Fernandes could start here and cause this Serbian defence a lot of problems. Portugal to win @ 3/4 will be a 1pt bet for us.
Both these teams love attacking through the wings and numbers support this characteristic. Portugal’s last 7 games have seen 10, 16, 12, 15, 5, 12, 12 corners respectively. Serbia’s last 7 games have seen 15, 13, 12, 13, 12, 7, 14 corners respectively. These are very high numbers and Betfair are offering a generous 5/2 on there to be 12 or more corners here. We take that with 0.5pt.
