Lebanon vs Australia Prediction: Back-to-back successes over Cedars for Socceroos

A few days after beating Lebanon 2-0 in Sydney, Australia meet the same opponents again on Tuesday (KO, 08:45) in an Asian World Cup qualifying group match. This Canberra clash is a home game for the Cedars, but the fact that it takes place on Australian soil hands a big advantage to the Socceroos.

Graham Arnold's men dominated last week's contest, although the final minutes would have been much more fraught if Daniel Kuri's shot had squeezed inside the post that it struck. Below is our Lebanon vs Australia prediction, complete with all the latest team news and match odds.

Team News

For Lebanon, attacking midfielder Mohamad Haidar could start over the more defensively-minded Hasan Srour, but Kuri's bright cameo appearance on Thursday is unlikely to be enough for him to displace skipper Hassan Maatouk on the left of Miodrag Radulovic's 5-4-1 system.

Meanwhile, the Socceroos suffered two injuries to their left flank in Sydney, with Riley McGree lasting just 16 minutes before he was replaced by Jordan Bos, who then needed to be replaced by Ajdin Hrustic just before half-time.

Craig Goodwin missed the game due to illness, but the left winger should be ready to play some part and solve a problem for Arnold.

Match Odds

Australia are the 1/7 favourites to take the three points that would maintain their 100% record in qualifying. That implies Arnold's men are an 87.5% chance to win while Lebanon are 14/1 shots - or a 6.7% chance - to pull off the upset win, while the draw is available at 5/1.

It's 7/4 for both teams to score and 2/5 for at least one of the teams to keep a clean sheet, while 7/4 is available for over 3.5 goals to be scored in the game.

Australia to win & over 2.5 goals @ 5/6

Lebanon gave a decent account of themselves in Sydney and their odds for this second Socceroos clash have been slightly shortened on the back of it.

Australia's first goal involved a lot of luck as it looked like Keanu Baccus' effort was intended as a cross while things could have finished differently if Kuri's effort had crept in.

However, the hosts caused a lot of problems on set pieces and will surely do so on Tuesday if the Lebanese defenders again fail to compete with giant Aussie centre-backs Cameron Burgess and Harry Souttar in the air.

To all intents and purposes, this is another home game for the Socceroos, and they have proven to be too strong for all but the very best Asian nations in their backyard.

Australia have won nine of their last 11 home World Cup qualifiers and scored at least three goals in seven of those games.

Arnold's team should be sharper for their run out against the Cedars on Thursday and will know more about their opponents' weaknesses, which should lead to a more comfortable win.

Australia to win 3-0 @ 5/1

A 3-0 home victory must be worth some serious consideration for those looking at possible correct scores, as Australia regularly scored three or more goals against teams ranked well below them by Fifa during the last qualification programme.

In 2021, Arnold's squad dispatched Kuwait by that score in the initial group phase and repeated the result against China in the next phase.

The Socceroos' biggest problems on Thursday came when they overplayed things at the back. They are experienced enough to know that they can win this without taking unnecessary risks, which should lead to another clean sheet.

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