H2H: Serbia vs. Ukraine – Prediction (EURO Qualification

Preview and Teams Comparison.

Though just a point out of the qualification placings on final day, Serbia (FIFA rank: #33) have their work cut out given that Portugal must only defeat Luxembourg to thwart any Serbian effort. Moreover, Ukraine are unbeaten in the group, scoring the same as Serbia (2.14 scored per-match on average) but conceding just twice (0.29 conceded per-match on average). Serbian hitman Aleksandar Mitrović has hit a brace of goals in each of his last three international appearances, with the six split equally across both halves. Each of Serbia’s four victories this qualifying campaign and their last six in any competitive outing have seen both teams score (4.17 total goals per-match across wins). In fact, Serbia’s qualifiers average a considerable 4.29 goals per-match, which comes in as a group-high and in the top 8% of the 55 qualifying nations.

Serbia have received just one booking across the last two qualifiers. Referee Bobby Madden has awarded fewer than four match bookings in eight of his last ten appointments. Ukraine won three or fewer corners in three of their last four competitive away games.

In spite of the topsy-turvy affairs Serbia are used to, just one of five prior H2Hs saw both sides score while Ukraine were never losing at half-time (HT: W3, D2). Moreover, Ukraine coach Andriy Shevchenko boasts a 7-0 aggregate scoreline in two managerial H2Hs with Serbia (W/W HT/FT in both). Ukraine’s Ruslan Malinovskiy has scored three of his nation’s last five qualifying goals; each game he scored in saw victory ‘to nil’ and by at least a two-goal margin. Not ones to mess about, each of Ukraine’s last five qualifying victories saw a HT/FT success. Consequently, ten of their 17 overall goals scored came before the break (58.82% of total – 1.43 first-half goals per-match on average).