Latvia vs Serbia Prediction for today 6 September 2025 - Football

🔊 How will the clash between Group K neighbors unfold in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers? Latvia and Serbia face off on September 6 in Riga at the Daugava Stadium, where the hosts haven't lost since last year. Despite their modest standing, Latvia have made a commendable start to their World Cup qualifying campaign and are level on points with their upcoming opponents. However, Serbia have played one less match, giving them an edge in the race for the second qualifying spot. Currently, Albania hold that position, having shared points with both teams. Will this encounter also end in a draw, or will Serbia capitalize on their superior quality?

Head-to-Head

📊 The national teams are set for their first-ever head-to-head clash. They have never faced each other in official tournaments or even friendly matches before.

Latvia Team Overview

Paolo Nicolato, a representative of the Italian coaching school, advocates for defensive football. This style suits Latvia, a team with modest capabilities, perfectly. Thanks to this approach, the Baltic side have picked up 4 points in their 4 matches of the World Cup 2026 qualifiers and are seriously challenging Albania for the second spot, trailing by just one point. This achievement was made possible by a victory over Andorra (1-0) and a home draw against Albania (1-1). They also suffered a defeat to England (0-3), but an away match at Wembley was never likely to yield points for Nicolato's squad.

Serbia Team Overview

Unlike Latvia, Serbia spent the beginning of the year battling in the playoffs to retain their spot in League A of the Nations League. In a tough group with Spain, Denmark, and Switzerland, Dragan Stojković's team secured 6 points to finish 3rd. In the knockout stage, they remained unbeaten against Austria (1-1; 2-0). During the summer international break, Serbia kicked off their World Cup 2026 qualification campaign by collecting 4 out of a possible 6 points, thanks to a victory over Andorra (3-0) and a draw with Albania (0-0). This strong start allowed them to narrow the gap with the Albanians to just 1 point, with two games in hand.

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Latvia

📌 The national team roster is predominantly made up of players from the local Latvian league, with most hailing from RFŠ and Riga—the dominant forces in the championship. Among the standout players are strikers Marko Regža and Jānis Ikaunieks, both of whom have scored 10+ goals for three consecutive seasons. Besides the local goal scorers, defenders are expected to shine in a team that plays with a low block. One such defender is the prolific Roberts Savaļnieks, who has provided 20 assists over the last three years at RFŠ. Another key figure in defense is one of the few representatives from European leagues, Andrejs Cigaņiks, who is in his second season in the Swiss Super League with Luzern.

❌ The team will be without one of its brightest stars, Kristers Tobers. The Aberdeen defender has been absent due to illness, missing both Latvia's summer training camps and the start of the Premiership season. In attack, they will miss Roberts Uldriķis—formerly of RFŠ and Sion—who suffered an ACL tear in March.

Serbia

🔝 The Serbian squad is packed with players from the top five European leagues. Among the standout names are Djordje Petrovic (Bournemouth), Nikola Milenkovic (Nottingham Forest), Strahinja Pavlovic (AC Milan), Nemanja Gudelj (Sevilla), Sasa Lukic (Fulham), Lazar Samardzic (Atalanta), and Dusan Vlahovic (Juventus). However, the long-standing star remains Aleksandar Mitrovic. The former Newcastle and Fulham striker is now in his third year with Al-Hilal, consistently delivering high-scoring performances for both club and country.

✅ This summer, most of the transfer speculation surrounded Dusan Vlahovic's potential departure from Juventus. Despite expectations that the Serbian might not feature in Turin's plans, he has started the Serie A season strongly, scoring in each of the first two matches. Meanwhile, Aleksandar Mitrovic's start to the Saudi Pro League has been delayed due to a muscle injury sustained before the Club World Cup, keeping him off the pitch since. Nonetheless, Dragan Stojkovic has called him up for national duty. The match against Latvia could be the perfect opportunity for him to regain his form.

⚽️ Goal Prediction

⚽️ Goal Prediction

Serbia might counter the absence of one of Latvia's key defenders with Aleksandar Mitrović's suboptimal form following an injury. Of course, there's Dušan Vlahović, who has been in excellent form at the start of the season, but Dragan Stojković prefers a two-striker setup. Luka Jović, the potential second forward, hasn't shown his former Eintracht level for quite some time. Moreover, Serbia faces certain challenges on the road—they haven't won in 7 consecutive away matches and haven't scored more than 1.5 goals in any of them. Considering Latvia's level, we suggest slightly raising this bar and betting on Serbia’s total goals under 2.5.

🚩 Corner Prediction

Serbia holds a significant height advantage over Latvia. While the Baltic side mainly relies on Marko Regža and junior Dario Šits, Serbia boasts more experienced "towers" across different lines. On set pieces, defenders Nikola Milenković (195 cm) and Strahinja Pavlović (194 cm) can join forwards Dušan Vlahović (190 cm) and Aleksandar Mitrović (189 cm). We believe that this advantage in tall players should reflect in the number of corners at the hosts' end. Therefore, we think that betting on Serbia to win on corners with a -2.5 handicap is quite a reasonable prediction.

Serbia hold a commanding advantage in the odds set by bookmakers. Despite their extended winless streak on the road, it's fair to note that none of their opponents matched Latvia's level of play. It's important to remember that the hosts are dealing with some defensive issues, although head coach Paolo Nicolato will likely counter this by deploying a five-man defense in a 5-4-1 formation. This strategy might curb the visitors' scoring potential but is unlikely to alter the match outcome—Serbia's creative players should have enough quality to secure a 2-0 victory. Based on this, we believe that betting on a Serbia win with a -1.5 handicap is the most optimal choice.