World Cup
2025-11-13 - England vs Serbia
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: World Cup Qualifier
Thursday 13th November 2025 - Kick Off 7:45pm
This game is live on TV
England
This current generation of England fans might not appreciate the successes that the national team have had under Gareth Southgate as much as older fans. Prior to Southgate's appointment, England had only reached the Quarter Final in one of four major tournaments played, but they managed to do that in all four tournaments with Gareth Southgate in charge that culminated in another European Championship Final defeat.
He made his own decision to depart as manager and the Football Association have appointed Thomas Tuchel through to the end of the 2026 World Cup in the hope the manager can get England over the line and win a first big trophy since the 1966 World Cup. The manager has gotten through the first task of confirming England's place in North America next summer and these are the last two competitive fixtures to be played before the World Cup Finals begin.
England had a bit of a stodgy start under Tuchel, but look to have been playing with more confidence in the last couple of international windows and have won 4 in a row. Each of the last 4 wins have been in games where England have managed to score at least twice, while England have scored 7 goals without conceding in winning 3 World Cup home Qualifiers.
Thomas Tuchel is likely going to utilise the squad for the next two Qualifiers to see how players perform in competitive environments. England may have Qualified already, but this is a chance for players to impress the manager with just one more international break between now and the World Cup.
Serbia
Since becoming an independent nation, Serbia have found it tough to Qualify for the European Championships. However, it has been a different case when it comes to the World Cup Finals and they have played in three of the last four tournaments, although Serbia's chances of making the Finals in North America took a major hit in October.
It has come down to a straight fight between rivals Serbia and Albania for 2nd place in this Qualifying Group and earning a spot in the Play Offs. However, the 0-1 home defeat to Albania in October means Serbia are a point behind in 3rd place and will need to avoid a defeat on Thursday to make sure they are still in with a chance of finishing 2nd on the final day. If they are to lose at Wembley, Serbia will need Andorra to avoid a defeat to Albania on the same night to have any hope of finishing in a Play Off spot.
Serbia won 1-3 at Andorra in the last round of Qualifiers so they may not be holding up much hope of the nation being able to earn a positive result against Albania. It was a win that ended a run of consecutive defeats in this Group after Serbia were battered 0-5 at home by England and followed up with a 0-1 home defeat to Albania. The side are unbeaten in 3 away Qualifiers in this Group and Serbia are unbeaten in 5 away games overall.
A new manager is likely to take a new approach for this fixture, but Aleksandar Mitrovic is out with an injury.
Head to Head
This will be the first time Serbia have played in England.
They have met twice over the last sixteen months- England beat Serbia in the Euro 2024 Group Stage 1-0 before thumping them in Belgrade in September.
Prediction
Qualification has been assured, but Thomas Tuchel is driving high standards for England's national team and players that fail to impress may not have a seat on the plane for the World Cup Finals next summer.
With just two competitive fixtures left, Thomas Tuchel is unlikely to be extremely experimental and instead will have a solid base from which to work.
That doesn't mean players won't have opportunities, but it will not be a wholesale changed team and that should mean the likes of Jordan Pickford, John Stones, Declan Rice and Harry Kane giving the team a strong spine to build around.
England will be facing a desperate Serbia on Thursday in the penultimate round of Qualifying matches.
The visitors were beaten by Albania last month, which has meant a change in the dugout, and that loss also means Serbia likely need four points from the remaining fixtures and a favour from England next week.
First they have to make sure they avoid defeat against a team that thumped them 0-5 in Belgrade and that is going to be challenging alone. Serbia have to expect Albania to beat Andorra on the same night and so elimination could be confirmed if they fail to earn a result, which could play into England's hands if Serbia go chasing for the points.
Serbia have been a pretty stubborn away team over the last twelve months, but it is a different task when needing to get forward.
This leaves them vulnerable and England have been dominant in this Group- barring a loss of intensity, which Tuchel is unlikely to allow easily, England should be able to find spaces to exploit the more desperate Serbia become.
The quality edge is with England anyway and they can secure another win by a couple of goals on the night.
Prices for a win by two goals and a 'win to nil' are very similar, but Serbia may find something in the final third if they throw enough bodies at it, although that may also leave them susceptible to conceding more goals. 5 of the England wins in this Group have been in games where they have beaten this handicap mark and that is looks most likely as Serbia chase at some point.
The Statistics :
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The Pick :
England 3-0 Serbia
