Preview: Slovenia vs. Montenegro - prediction, team news, lineups

This fixture will represent each nation's last outing before they begin their qualification campaign for Euro 2024 in March.

Match preview

Having won just two of their nine fixtures this year, Slovenia cannot claim to have enjoyed the most enjoyable years in their history.

However, finishing ahead of Sweden in their UEFA Nations League group was a notable achievement, the difference being a 2-1 triumph over Norway in their penultimate game.

That was followed by a 1-1 draw in Sweden, and Matjaz Kek can be left delighted with his team collecting six points from a group which also included Serbia.

Slovenia backed up those results with a 2-1 success against Romania earlier this week, Benjamin Sesko and Andraz Sporar both getting on the scoresheet inside the first 31 minutes.

Now unbeaten in four matches, Kek's side will want to extend that streak further before they participate in a favourable Euro 2024 qualifying group involving Denmark, Finland, Kazakhstan and San Marino.

Montenegro's equivalent is far tougher on paper with fixtures against Serbia and an improving Hungary side on their schedule, as well as Bulgaria and Lithuania.

For now, however, Miodrag Radulovic is focused on trying to end a run of three matches without a win, Montenegro only prevailing once in six outings.

The Brave Falcons should have probably qualified for the top tier of Nations League football, only to miss out by four points after losing to Bosnia-Herzegovina and Finland without scoring a goal in September.

On a more positive note, Montenegro came from two goals behind to record a 2-2 draw at home to Slovakia earlier this week, both of their strikes being netted in the final 14 minutes.

Slovenia form (all competitions):

L

D

D

W

D

W

Montenegro form (all competitions):

L

D

W

L

L

D

Team News

Given the three-day turnaround, Kek may feel obliged to make changes to the team which beat Romania on Thursday night.

Jan Oblak, Jaka Bijol, Adam Gnezda Cerin and Sesko all played 90 minutes in that match, and the latter three may be in line to drop to the substitutes' bench.

Zan Karnicnik, Jon Gorenc Stankovic and Andres Vombergar will all feel that they could be handed an opportunity from the start.

Radulovic will also make alterations to his side with Wolverhampton Wanderers goalkeeper Matija Sarkic potentially making his third outing for his country.

Experienced duo Zarko Tomasevic and Nikola Vukcevic will also hope to come back into the team.

Slovenia possible starting lineup:

Oblak; Stojanovic, Blazic, Karnicnik, Balkovec; Lovric, Stankovic, Kurtic, Verbic; Vombergar, Sporar

Montenegro possible starting lineup:

Sarkic; Vesovic, Tomasevic, Savic, Radunovic; Marusic, Vukcevic, Jankovic, Jovovic; Krstovic, Mugosa

We say: Slovenia 1-1 Montenegro

With both nations having avoided defeat in competitive fixtures earlier this week, confidence is growing heading into this match. With that in mind, we feel that a low-scoring share of the spoils is most likely as they look to avoid defeat before the start of their Euro 2024 qualification campaign.

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