England are looking to take a big leap towards the 2026 World Cup as they travel to take on Serbia away from home in UEFA World Cup qualifying.
- Date: 09/09/2025
- Kick-off: 7:45pm
- Location: Rajko Mitic Stadium, Belgrade
Serbia come into this game with seven points from three games in Group K. The Balkan side kicked off their qualifying campaign with a 0-0 draw against Albania, which was followed by a 3-0 win over Andorra and a 1-0 win away at Latvia.
Serbia haven't set the world alight in qualifying and fans are fairly unimpressed by the team's showings under long-time manager Dragan Stojkovic. The team has lacked spark, creativity, and excitement, and their recent results and performances seem to have turned public opinion quite negatively.
In qualifying for Euro 2024, Serbia picked up some poor results such as drawing twice with Bulgaria and losing twice to Hungary, while their record post-Euro 2024 has been four wins, five draws and two defeats from 11 games.
Serbia lost Dusan Tadic to retirement after the Euros and many fans think that his departure has had a negative effect on the team. The team still has quality, but with Aleksandar Mitrovic over in Qatar, Luka Jovic playing in Greece, and Tadic no longer in the setup, it's little surprise that the team seems blunt from an attacking perspective.
Serbia are often hard to beat, but the team is not in a particularly healthy position in comparison to recent qualifying campaigns, so the visitors will fancy their chances.
England come into this game with four wins from four in qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. Thomas Tuchel's side began with a 2-0 win over Albania, which was followed by wins over Latvia (2-0), Andorra (1-0) and Andorra (2-0).
The Three Lions are still very much finding their feet under Tuchel, and while there is some negativity surrounding the performances, it's still too early to be drawing any radical conclusions about the team's prospects. Key players have been missing in every camp, and the June internationals side (which usually always produce poor results and performances for England), some very promising individual performances have provided a boost to the team's plans.
Noni Madueke is proving a very effective operator in the absence of Bukayo Saka, while Reece James' return to fitness is bearing fruit, especially with the decline of long-term right-back Kyle Walker. Elliot Anderson also delivered a very impressive debut in midfield at the weekend, and he provided the team with a very interesting midfield option going forward.
Ultimately, England still come into this game with seven wins from their last eight games and they faced off against Dragan Stojkovic's Serbia just over one year ago, winning 1-0 in the Euro 2024 group stage. It's not likely to be a game filled with goals, with four of Serbia's last five games producing under 2.5 goals and three of England's last five outings producing under 2.5 goals, but it's one that we fancy England to win, given the quality in the team.
Serbia 0-1 England
