South Korea vs United Arab Emirates Predictions

• South Korea’s last five competitive games have all featured 3 goals or fewer.
• The hosts remain unbeaten in their World Cup qualification campaign, but netted just three goals across recent home meetings with Lebanon, Iraq and Syria.
• The UAE are yet to win at this stage, drawing three of their opening games but conceding only once per game on average.

South Korea Looking Good for Qualification

South Korea remain on course to seal one of Asia’s four qualification spots for next year’s World Cup, but it hasn’t exactly been plain sailing for a side who have qualified for the last nine editions of the FIFA showpiece event. While the Tigers have 8 points from their opening 4 fixtures, they toiled to 1-0 and 2- 1 wins over Lebanon and Syria, and dropped points in a goalless draw with winless Iraq.

In a qualification group dominated by the hosts and Iran, the United Arab Emirates have been solid yet unspectacular, scoring just 3 goals and conceding 4 in their 4 fixtures, but only keeping one clean sheet. Starting the match 5 points behind their hosts, the UAE look to have little chance of mounting a genuine assault on the qualification spots.

Koreans’ Quality Should Shine Through

While Tottenham star Son Heung-Min earns most of the plaudits for his national team, fellow attacker Hee-Chan Hwang has also been in fine form since moving to England. Hwang has netted 4 Premier League goals in his first 8 appearances for Wolves, and the hosts’ attacking quality should see them take a significant step towards qualification against stubborn opponents.

While South Korea are unbeaten in 7 games, the last 5 of those have all featured 3 goals or fewer, making a 2-0 home win look a solid correct score prediction for this game. For the same reasons, the Koreans to win with under 2.5 match goals seems a strong bet.