Austria vs Croatia – 25/09/2022
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It’s top against bottom in UEFA Nations League Group A1 on Sunday, as last-place Austria face first-place Croatia at Ernst-Happel-Stadion.
As we head into Matchday 6, Croatia find themselves one point clear of second-place Denmark and five points clear of third-place France.
? #FRAAUT pic.twitter.com/Q36gSMyFzp
— ÖFB – oefb.at (@oefb1904) September 22, 2022
At the opposite end of the standings, Austria trail Croatia by six points – meaning they are on the verge of relegation.
It is worth noting that Austria kicked off their Nations League campaign with a hugely impressive 3-0 victory over Croatia in Osijek.
Between Matchday 2 and Matchday 4, however, the Austrians recorded back-to-back defeats against Austria and a 1-1 draw with France.
Following Thursday’s 2-0 loss to France, Austria have only managed to win one of their five Nations League games this year.
Worse still, they Austrian have won just one of their previous seven outings in all competitions – recording two draws and four losses in the process.
As for Croatia, they managed to bounce back from their Matchday 1 defeat to Austria by producing three impressive performances.
After drawing 1-1 with France on Matchday 2, Croatia beat Denmark 1-0 in Copenhagen before claiming a 1-0 victory over France in Paris.
On Thursday, Croatia claimed a 2-1 win against Denmark – meaning they have won each of their previous three Nations League games.
When you look at the bigger picture, the 2018 World Cup runners-up have only suffered one defeat in their past 14 outings across all competitions.
Head-to-head: It is worth pointing out that Austria’s victory over Croatia back in June was their first-ever win in this fixture.
Austria and Croatia have faced each other on six occasions over the years, with Croatia defeating Austria five times between 2000 and 2010.
Team news: Austria are missing a number of key players due to injury, including Sasa Kalajdzic, Konrad Laimer, Valentino Lazaro and Florian Grillitsch.
Croatia full-back Sime Vrsaljko announced his retirement from international football last month. Still, Zlatko Dalic can call upon Luka Modric, Ivan Perisic and Mateo Kovacic.
Given the six-point gap between first-place Croatia and last-place Austria, all the signs point towards an away win here.
Forebet predicts that Croatia will claim all three points in Austria, with the visitors scoring under 1.5 goals and keeping a clean sheet on their way to victory.
