Serbia vs Latvia Prediction: Defeating the visitors
The Serbia vs Latvia World Cup qualifying match will take place at 00:00 on November 17th. Nghe An newspapers, radio, and television will analyze form, provide football commentary, and predict the score.
Latest information on the Serbia vs Latvia squad.
Paunovic's plans for the match against England were disrupted just before halftime when midfielder Ivan Ilic had to leave the field after only 39 minutes due to a fairly serious knee injury.
The Torino player will almost certainly be rested, and Paunovic will most likely field Lazar Samardzic in his place, after using the more defensively oriented Aleksandar Stankovic in London.
The rest of the Serbian squad remains stable. With Mitrovic still unavailable, Paunovic is expected to continue starting Vlahovic instead of Luka Jovic – who has been disappointing at Real Madrid.
On the Latvian side, they face two suspensions in defense: Andrejs Ciganiks and captain Antonijs Cernomordijs are both banned from playing due to accumulating yellow cards.
Ciganiks' suspension could see Maksims Tonisevs recalled – the player who scored an own goal in the 0-5 defeat to England last month – while Vitalijs Jagodinskis, who plays in Cambodia, is likely to replace Cernomordijs.
Latest predicted lineups for Serbia vs Latvia
Serbia:
Rajkovic; Mimovic, Milenkovic, Pavlovic, Terzic; Gudelj, Lukic; Zivkovic, Samardzic, Kostic; Vlahovic
Latvia:
Zviedris; Savalnieks, Balodis, Jagodinskis, Jurkovskis, Tonisevs; Ikaunieks, Zelenkovs, Vapne, Daskevics; Gutkovskis
Latest football match prediction: Serbia vs Latvia
Facing the absence of their greatest goalscorer in history, Aleksandar Mitrovic, due to injury, a re-rebranded Serbia – under the first-time leadership of coach Veljko Paunovic – was completely helpless against England's solid defense in the terrible weather conditions at Wembley.
Two quality finishes from Arsenal's duo Bukayo Saka and Eberechi Eze in each half, coupled with Albania's victory over Andorra later that evening, officially prevented Serbia from finishing in the top two of the qualifying round.
However, even if they cannot qualify for the play-offs by finishing second in their group, Serbia could still be "saved" by a wildcard spot from the UEFA Nations League. Their ranking in the 2024–25 tournament could secure them a place in the next round.
However, that scenario would only occur if there were multiple favorable outcomes simultaneously – the four Nations League group winners with high rankings but not in the top two of the qualifying rounds would be prioritized, followed by teams that did not finish first but had high rankings.
Therefore, the result of Sunday's match is essentially meaningless for Serbia, although the home side still wants to avoid a third consecutive home defeat without scoring, following two 0-5 and 0-1 losses against England and Albania since September.
Latvia, however, is different. This team enters the November fixtures playing only for pride, after having only managed to secure 5 points in their first seven matches in Group K.
Nine points behind Albania and 16 points behind league leaders England, the quest for their first World Cup appearance in their independent history – and the second-largest tournament after Euro 2004 – will likely continue for several more years.
Paolo Nicolato's team played a friendly match on Thursday evening, drawing 0-0 against North Macedonia, extending their winless streak to eight games across all competitions, including six consecutive matches in Group K.
Latvia beat Andorra 1-0 in their opening match of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, but since then they have only gained two more points – both at home – and scored only three more goals in the following six matches.
They also lost 0-1 to Serbia in Riga on September 6th, with Dusan Vlahovic scoring the only goal of the match. This Sunday's encounter will be Latvia's first away game in Serbia since the country gained independence.
Latest Serbia vs Latvia score prediction
Based on the above football analysis, we and leading football websites worldwide have provided our predictions for the match.Serbia vs Latviaas follows:
- Sportsmole:Serbia 2-0 Latvia
- WhoScore:Serbia 3-1 Latvia
- We predict:Serbia 2-0 Latvia
When and where can I watch Serbia vs Latvia live?
To watch the Serbia vs Latvia match live in the World Cup qualifiers, taking place at 00:00 on November 17th, viewers can tune in to the following channels:K+ Sport,K+PMor online sports channels. We hope you enjoy watching football.
