Albania vs Serbia Prediction: Visitors to start campaign with a win

Serbia get their World Cup qualification campaign underway on Saturday evening (19:45) as they travel to the Arena Kombetare to take on Albania.

The hosts managed to qualify for Euro 2024, and they'll be hopeful of securing their place at next year's World Cup, although they're in a tough qualifying group. Read on for my Albania vs Serbia predictions, as well as the latest team news and match odds.

Team News

Thomas Strakosha will start between the sticks for the home side, while the likes of Ivan Balliu, Naser Aliji, Arlind Ajeti and Berat Djimsiti are expected to make up the backline.

Inter Milan midfielder Kristjan Asllani will occupy the engine room alongside Juljan Shehu, while one of Rey Manaj - who scored twice in the 3-0 win over Andorra in March - or Chelsea man Armando Broja look set to spearhead the attack.

As for Serbia, familiar names such as Aleksandar Mitrovic, Nikola Milenkovic and Dusan Vlahovic could all feature from the off for Dragan Stojkovic's side.

If Stojkovic opts for a three-at-the-back system similar to the one deployed in Serbia's last game against Austria, Milenkovic and Strahinja Pavlovic are likely to start in defence alongside either Nemanja Stojic or Jan Carlo Simic.

One man who won't be involved is former Southampton man Dusan Tadic, who announced his retirement from international football last summer.

Albania vs Serbia Odds

The hosts are 5/2 to win Saturday's encounter, giving them an implied win probability of 28.6%, with the draw available at 11/5, and a Serbia win can be backed at 6/5.

Over 2.5 goals is currently trading at 11/8, and Mitrovic is shortest-priced to open the scoring at 7/4.

Serbia to win @ 6/5

Both Serbia and Albania are in Group K alongside England in European World Cup qualifying, and I'm backing the visitors kickstart their campaign with a win on Saturday night in Tirana.

The visitors' Nations League play-off triumph against Austria means they have yet to begin their quest for a place in next summer’s tournament, and they'll be confident of gaining a win from their opening fixture.

Albania can be tricky customers, as displayed in their journey to qualifying for Euro 2024, but they have lost three of their last five World Cup qualifiers. Both of those wins in that run came against Andorra, who are the fourth-lowest ranked Uefa nation.

Both teams to score - no @ 4/5

Following on from my first tip, I don't see both teams scoring here either, so I'm essentially pick the visitors to win to nil.

As mentioned above, I wouldn't read too much into Albania's victory over Andorra, and they've fallen to home defeats against Georgia and Ukraine recently, as well as failing to score in a draw with the Czech Republic.

In fact, Albania have failed to score in four of their last seven matches, and both teams have scored in just three of Serbia’s last 12 outings.

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