Montenegro vs Croatia Prediction: Visitors to make short work of trip to Podgorica

Croatia are bound for the World Cup already as Group L winners and they are fancied to round things off with a win over Montenegro in Podgorica on Monday (19:45).

Below are my Montenegro vs Croatia predictions, alongside the latest match odds and team news for this World Cup 2026 qualifier.

Team News

Marko Perovic replaced Risto Radunovic off the bench as Montenegro beat Gibraltar and may now get the nod to start at left-back.

That aside, the hosts haven’t incurred any injury worries from the 2-1 success.

Zlatko Dalic's Croatia have wrapped up top spot in Group L and the visiting side could make some changes for this finale.

Luke Modric, now 40, is still a beacon for the national side but could be rested while Mateo Kovacic is a long-term absentee. Nikola Vlasic came off the bench and scored against the Faroe Islands and could be handed a start now.

Montenegro vs Croatia Odds

Montenegro are 17/2 to get a fourth win of the campaign, while Croatia are priced at 1/3 to make it seven wins in eight games and the draw trades at 4/1.

Over 3.5 goals can be backed at 13/8 and both teams to score is a 10/11 chance.

Croatia to win to nil @ 11/10

Croatia, semi-finalists at the last two World Cups, have made short work of qualifying for the 2026 edition.

Dalic's side have won six of their seven games in Group L, held only in a scoreless draw against Czechia.

Indeed, they have only conceded a couple of goals along the way, whilst scoring 23 times.

They won the first meeting of these nations 4-0 and are expected to round off the campaign in style.

Montenegro have won three of their seven games but those victories have come against weaker opponents in the shape of Gibraltar and the Faroe Islands. They found themselves behind against the Gibraltarians on Friday, before just about recovering to win 2-1.

They may struggle to break through against this excellent Croatian defence and so a visiting win-to-nil looks the value play.

Montenegro - Most Booking Points @ 8/13

Croatia haven't picked up a single caution in their last two games. The Montenegrins have landed the most booking points in four of their last five games in this group, Friday's win over Gibraltar breaking the sequence.

That run of games included Andrija Bulatovic picking up two cautions in the reverse defeat in Zagreb as he saw red in that 4-0 loss earlier in the group.

The home side will be eager to try and sign off on a high but Croatia's ability to starve them of possession – they had 74 per cent of the ball in the first game – may lead to some risky tackles and they can top the card chart again on Monday.

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