The international break rarely produces derbies, but this week’s Euro 2024 qualifiers have thrown up one as Eastern European neighbours Serbia and Hungary go head-to-head. We’ve taken a look at this spicy encounter to come up with a betting angle.

Team news

Serbia’s vice-captain Aleksandar Mitrovic has been called up to the squad to lead the line, despite his move to Saudi Arabia. He’s joined by usual suspects Dusan Tadic, Luka Jovic and Filip Kostic, while Chelsea’s new boy Djordje Petrović is looking to get just his third cap in goal. 

Hungary have plenty of faces familiar to English football fans. Milos Kerkez, now of Bournemouth is likely to start at left-back, Bendeguz Bolla is at Wolves, Callum Styles remains at Barnsley and of course, Dominik Szoboszlai has impressed since his move to Liverpool. 

Hungary or draw double chance

This match is a meeting of the two strongest teams in the group and as a result, could determine who tops it. Despite being played away from home, I think the bookies have vastly underestimated the quality of Hungary and the impact they have had on major tournaments in recent years. 

Hungary beat England home and away last year, hitting four away from home at Molineux. Marco Rossi’s side have come on leaps and bounds since he took charge in 2018, also beating Germany in that Nations League group. 

Serbia are a good side, but they are far from perfect. They haven’t qualified for a European Championship since 2000, and haven’t been past the group stage of the World Cup since 1998. Both sides have picked up seven points from their three matches, but Serbia’s 1-1 draw with Bulgaria caused more concern than Hungary’s draw with Montenegro. 

The away side are a massive 4/1 for the win, but we are doubling our chances with this pick. 

Hungary to win to nil 

These two sides are well-matched on paper but if Hungary can deal with the hostile atmosphere, there’s no reason why they can’t go on to seal all three points. One major reason why they are looking so strong over the past twelve months has been their defences. They are yet to concede a goal in 2023, and are now on a run of four consecutive clean sheets. 

They kept England out twice in 2022, and did the same to Germany away from home. This rock-solid back five provides the perfect platform for Hungarian success, and the 13/2 on offer for them to win to nil is mouth-watering. They have what it takes to get the job done.