Albania vs Serbia Prediction, Betting Tips & Preview

Preview

Joel Amorim Oct 05, 2015 @ 01:04 am

Next Thursday, 8th of October 2015, Albania will measure forces with their neighbours of Serbia at Elbasan Arena for the 2016 UEFA European Championship Qualifying Round.

Almost one year ago, the English referee Martin Atkinson was forced to call off the match at Belgrade between the Serbs and the Albanians, after a fight broke between players, fans and both sides’ officials at the Partizan Stadium. Serbia was awarded with a win over Albania but they have also been deducted three points and ordered to play the next two home matches behind closed doors.

Serbia’s qualifying campaign has been an utter disaster so far. Apart from that shameful incident in the match against Albania, the Serbs have only won one of the other five matches they’ve taken part in so far and not even the ludicrous managerial change back in November 2014 helped them find the necessary peace of mind to reverse their unimpressive streak of results.

After a sour defeat at Denmark, Serbia granted their first official win of the qualifying campaign overcoming Armenia at home by 2-0. Radovan Curcic’s men have nothing to play for, except their own pride and this might probably be a good time for the Serbian manager to open the doors of the team to the talented young players that have won the U20 World Cup that took place in New Zealand back in June.

As for Albania, the Eagles are hoping to grant a win over Serbia next Thursday in an attempt to grant a place among the top-two teams of their group. If Portugal beat Denmark and Albania grant the three points against the Serbs, Gianni De Biasi’s men will change places with the Danish in the second place of their group.

Albania have been a completely different team since the Italian manager arrived at the Balkan country almost four years ago. The team’s slow but solid progress has become evident as the years go by and they are now on the verge of securing a place in a major international tournament for the first time in their history.

League Positions