Bahrain vs Serbia Predictions

• Including friendlies, Serbia have won 11 of their last 15 games, nine of which have contained over 2.5 goals.
• Serbia hit the net 18 times in their World Cup qualifying campaign, bettering the tallies of Italy, Portugal and Spain, and equalling that of France.
• Bahrain – ranked 85^th in the world – have seen over 2.5 goals scored in four of their last seven games.
• Bahrain have only faced European opponents once since May 2021, when they suffered a 1-0 defeat to Belarus.

Are Serbia World Cup dark horses?

An impressive qualification campaign, as well as the emergence of Dusan Vlahovic and Aleksandar Mitrovic as natural goalscorers at the top level, has seen Serbia touted as a potential surprise package ahead of the World Cup in Qatar, though their first assignment against Brazil next week is a daunting one. While both of those strikers are battling to be fully fit for the tournament, Serbia should have few problems in swatting aside Bahrain in Friday’s warm-up match.

Indeed, Serbia averaged two goals per game as they topped a group containing Portugal to qualify automatically for the tournament. Not only did they outscore Cristiano Ronaldo and company in doing so, but they also bettered the attacking records of Italy and Spain, and equalled that of France. In their subsequent Nations league campaign, Dragan Stojkovic’s team plundered 13 goals in six outings, and they have now won 11 of their last 15 games including friendlies.

However, Serbia have seen their rearguard breached in five of their last seven games, and upcoming opponents Bahrain have seen both teams score in four of their last seven matches, including last week’s creditable 2-2 draw with Canada. While the hosts have only faced one European nation since May 2021, suffering a 1-0 defeat to Belarus, over 2.5 goals have been scored in four of their last seven games, and punters should at least expect some entertainment in Arad.

Visitors look good for entertaining win

With Bahrain ranked some 64 places lower in the world than their visitors by FIFA, Stajkovic’s men are clear favourites to head into the World Cup on a high.

Given their strong recent form, we are prepared to seek value by overlooking the doubts concerning Serbia’s strikers’ fitness to back them to win a match containing over 2.5 goals, while a lively 3-1 away win appears a decent correct score prediction.

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