Serbia vs England prediction 09.09.2025 | World Cup qualification

For a long time, Serbia had problems qualifying for major tournaments. However, they qualified for three of the last four, so Dragan Stojkovic's team hopes for another appearance at the World Cup. Serbia collected seven points in the first three qualification matches and are the closest to the group leader, England, with five points fewer, but also a game in hand. On Saturday, Serbia won 1-0 on the road against Latvia. The guests doubled the home team's xG, but failing to score for the second time could cost them, as Latvia had an excellent opportunity late in the game. 

Dragan Stojkovic has been choosing pretty defensive tactics in crucial matches lately, so we should expect him to field only one striker in the starting lineup, Dusan Vlahovic, with Lazar Samardzic probably being the only other offensive player on the team. Serbia will try mainly to defend and to punish England on counterattacks. 

England are one of the best teams in the world. The last big competition they skipped was the European Championship in 2008, and it is hard to imagine them not finishing first in the current qualification group. England won all four games so far, and a possible victory in Belgrade would put them only one step away from another World Cup appearance. In the previous match, Thomas Tuchel's team won 2-0 at home against Andorra. England won in that game, but scoring only two goals against one of the worst teams in the world is hardly enough. 

England have injury problems, so they are without injured Bukayo Saka, Cole Palmer, Jude Bellingham, Levi Colwill, and Adam Wharton. Also, Thomas Tuchel didn't call Trent Alexander-Arnold, Kyle Walker, Phil Foden, and Jack Grealish for the September games.