Cyprus vs Bosnia-Herzegovina Prediction: Visitors to do the double over their hosts

Bosnia-Herzegovina will look to extend their lead at the top of Group H when they head to Cyprus on Thursday (19:45 BST) for their Fifa World Cup qualifier. The visitors were victorious in the reverse meeting back in March - prevailing 2-1.

They have racked up 12 points from their first five fixtures heading into this contest. Below you will find my Cyprus vs Bosnia-Herzegovina predictions, supported by the latest team news and match odds.

Team News

Veteran shot-stopper Fabiano may feature between the sticks for Cyprus once again, and the 37-year-old is set to make his third appearance for his country.

Kostakis Artymatas is the most-experienced member of this month's squad, with 78 caps to his name. Fellow midfielders Grigoris Kastanos and Charalampos Kyriakou have made 73 and 71 appearances for their country respectively.

Ioannis Pittas has contributed two goals in qualifying thus far, with one coming against Bosnia back in March. The striker is set to lead the line on Thursday and will hope that he can strike against the Dragons for a second time.

Football Odds

For Bosnia, influential attacker Ermedin Demirovic has been ruled out with a fractured foot, so boss Sergej Barbarez will need a rethink in the final third, but he still has veteran captain Edin Dzeko at his disposal.

Demirovic was one of the scorers in the reverse meeting with Cyprus, while Haris Hajradinovic provided the other. However, the midfielder has not been called up for the October camp.

Today's Football Fixtures

Cyprus vs Bosnia-Herzegovina Odds

Cyprus have won just one of their five qualifiers to date but they are winless in each of their previous four. They are 16/5 to stun Bosnia on Thursday.

Their last appearance was a draw at home to Romania, and the stalemate is priced at 12/5.

Bosnia have won four games from five and they are 9/10 (implied probability of 52.6%) to collect the three points.

Both teams were on the scoresheet when they faced each other back in March and BTTS is marketed at 1/1 on this occasion.

Bosnia-Herzegovina and over 1.5 goals @ 7/5

It was a close encounter when the two sides last met and on home soil this time around, Cyprus will be thinking they can put Bosnia to work again. The hosts will be desperate to put their first win on the board but that seems unlikely against the team which is currently top of the group.

Bosnia did lose their last match against Austria, who they look to be going head-to-head with for top spot. Austria have a game in hand on them so Bosnia will be feeling that they need to take maximum points from their trip to Cyprus on Thursday.

With the seasoned veteran Dzeko in attack, the visitors should have plenty to offer in the final third, even without the injured Demirovic. I have gone for Bosnia and over 1.5 goals for this selection as it is a more enticing price than the 9/10 for them just to win.

There were three goals when the two teams met earlier in the year, and at least two goals have been scored in two of Bosnia's past three victories.

Edin Dzeko anytime goalscorer @ 6/4

Dzeko's status as a legend of the Bosnian national team has long been established. He has the most caps of any player in history with 143, and no one comes close to his goal tally of 71.

At 39, the striker still continues to perform at a high level and his country can still rely upon him for goals - and this will certainly be the case in Demirovic's absence. Dzeko has been performing well in this qualifying campaign, having already contributed four goals, all of which have come in his last three appearances.

He was left on the bench in the reverse fixture against Cyprus in March but I get the sense his expertise will be required here. And 6/4 is more than fair for this icon to find the net.

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