Group G of 2020 European Championship qualifying is looking very close and two of four teams can finish in the top two places.
Each of the four teams have three games remaining to clinch their place in the final and two of those teams will play each other on the 13th October as Slovenia entertain Austria at the Stožice Stadium, Ljubljana.
As things stand in the group, Poland are top on 16 points, with Austria second on 13 points, North Macedonia third on 11 points and Slovenia fourth, also on 11 points. Therefore, it is clear how important this match has become.
Slovenia come into the game having suffered a 2-1 defeat at North Macedonia on Thursday night. With the score 0-0 at half-time, Slovenia were happy but two goals in the 50th and 68th minute put pay to any hopes they had of taking something from the game and a last minute consolation goal was all they could muster.
#MKDSVN | 2:1 | ⏱Konec težke tekme v Skopju.Severna Makedonija 2:1 SlovenijaV nedeljo v polnih Stožicah po tri točke!#SrceBije 🇸🇮 | #EuropeanQualifiers 🇪🇺 pic.twitter.com/0brQDGQdcq— NZS | FA Slovenia (@nzs_si) October 10, 2019
#MKDSVN | 2:1 | ⏱Konec težke tekme v Skopju.Severna Makedonija 2:1 SlovenijaV nedeljo v polnih Stožicah po tri točke!#SrceBije 🇸🇮 | #EuropeanQualifiers 🇪🇺 pic.twitter.com/0brQDGQdcq
That result means Slovenia have won three, drawn two and lost two of their seven matches in the group. Trends show they have won three of their last four games, with the wins come at home against Poland and Israel and away to Latvia.
Slovenia are undefeated in their last five on home soil, winning two and drawing three. Two of the draws came in the Nations League and both teams have scored in five of their last six at home.
Austria travel to Slovenia having picked up a good 3-1 home win against Israel on Thursday night. They fell a goal behind after 34 minutes but it did not take long for them to hit back and Austria scored an equaliser in the 41st minute. The hosts took control of the second half and scored two more goals to seal the points.
That win means Austria have won four, drawn one and lost two of their seven games in the group. Trends show they are undefeated in their last five matches, winning four and drawing one. The wins came at home against Slovenia, Latvia and Israel with the draw coming at Poland, which was a good result.
However, Austria have won only two of their last six away matches, losing three and drawing one. Both teams have scored in three of their last four on the road.
Team news and Slovenia can call upon Atletico Madrid goalkeeper Jan Oblak and have the creative influence of Josip Ilicic in midfield. Domen Crnigoj and Luka Zahovic are both injured.
Austria can call upon Marko Arnautovic in attack and he has 6 goals to his name in the group. However, David Alaba and Stefan Leiner are both missing from the defence due to injury.
Both teams still have a good chance of qualifying from this group and we are in for a good game. Slovenia have a good recent home record but Austria are in excellent form. Forebet predicts an away win for Austria with less than 2.5 goals in the match.