Serbia vs England prediction: Three Lions to continue winning start to qualifying

England face Serbia football in Belgrade tonight as the Three Lions look to make it five wins from five in their World Cup 2026 qualifying campaign.

Thomas Tuchel’s side laboured to another win over Andorra at Villa Park over the weekend, and though the performance wasn’t entirely convincing, it means England have maximum points from their opening four fixtures of qualifying.

This means the Three Lions already have an excellent chance of automatically qualifying for June’s World Cup, with betting sites offering football odds as low as 1/20 for England to win Group K.

Nevertheless, they travel to Belgrade to face a Serbia side who have shown that they can battle with the continent’s top sides, having drawn to Spain and Denmark while beating Austria in the last year or so.

But while this fixture is likely the toughest of the entire qualifying campaign, football betting sites still favour the Three Lions, offering odds around 4/5 for Tuchel’s side to take the three points.

England travel to the Serbian capital looking to make it five wins from five in qualifying, with a win here all but securing automatic qualification for the Three Lions with plenty of time to spare.

This match is likely to be the most difficult of the campaign for Tuchel’s side, and as long as they can avoid a loss it remains extremely unlikely that anyone can overtake them at the top of Group K.

But while Serbia offer the toughest competition in the group on paper, the reality of their recent performances is slightly different to their strength on paper.

While the hosts have kept clean sheets in four of their last five matches, these came against the likes of Albania, Andorra and Latvia, while they drew 1-1 with Austria. Conversely, Dragan Stojkovic’s side have only scored seven goals across these games, including a narrow 1-0 win away to Latvia and a 0-0 draw away to Albania.

England have laboured themselves at times recently, notably in both fixtures against Andorra, though the wins over Latvia and Albania were far more positive.

And Tuchel’s men have scored eight and conceded none in their opening four games, showing their strength relative to their opponents even when don’t necessarily play well.

In any case, even though they may have laboured in attack, the defence – one of Tuchel’s management strengths – has held firm with very little effort so far.

While Serbia’s recent record is similarly good, the 0-0 way draw to Albania illustrates that they can struggle against even average sides, and a match against a team with the quality England have could well be a real surprise for the hosts, who last played a side in the top 20 of the Fifa rankings back in October.

Given recent results, we think a wager on England to win to nil could offer good value on betting apps tonight.

Serbia vs England prediction 1: England to win to nil - 13/8 Bet365

England’s tired attacking performance at the weekend showed that Harry Kane still carries the main goalscoring threat in this team, with Eberechi Eze, Marcus Rashford and Noni Madueke not quite clicking against Andorra.

And while Kane didn’t get on the scoresheet at Villa Park, that remains the first game of the campaign that he has failed to find the net, having scored once in each of the previous three matches.

Over the last six England games, Kane has scored the opening goal in three of them, while overall he has found the net in each five of those six, with the last match against Andorra the first time he’s failed to score for the Three Lions since the win over Greece last November.

In terms of more recent goals, Kane has started the season brilliantly at club level too, scoring six times in his opening four matches for Bayern Munich.

With the England captain possessing a constant goalscoring threat alongside his role as the Three Lions’ penalty taker, he might be the man to get the ball rolling against Serbia too.

Moreover, you need to go back to the Nations League matches in mid-October and mid-November of 2024 to find the last time that Kane went two England games without scoring. Before that, the last time was 2022.

With that in mind, it looks like Kane is set to find the net against Serbia, and with Tuchel previously declaring that he is unlikely to rotate the Bayern striker considering he will start at the World Cup, we think there is decent value on Kane to score anytime at the Rajko Mitic Stadium.

Serbia vs England prediction 2: Harry Kane to score anytime - 6/4 Ladbrokes

Serbia: There are no new injury concerns for Serbia following their 1-0 win over Latvia last time out. Stojkovic opted for a 3-5-2 system in their last outing with Luka Jovic and Dusan Vlahovic leading the line, but Aleksandar Mitrovic could come into the fold after starting on the bench against an inexperienced England backline.

England: While the injured trio of Cole Palmer, Jude Bellingham and Bukayo Saka remain out alongside late withdrawals John Stones and Adam Wharton, Tuchel can call upon plenty of firepower tonight as the squad is free from new injury concerns after the win over Andorra.

Madueke, Eze and Rashford started in the attacking roles at Villa Park, though Jarrod Bowen, Morgan Rogers and Morgan Gibbs-White are among those vying for a starting spot this time round.

While Harry Kane may well start again, Ollie Watkins should see some game time in Belgrade, while Anthony Gordon, Tino Livramento and Ezri Konsa could also be in line for a start after coming on as subs against Andorra.

Virgin Bet are running a free bet offer for Serbia vs England for new and existing customers.

All customers have to do is opt-in on the promotion and place a £10 pre-match bet builders on Serbia vs England with odds of evens or greater.

Once your qualifying wager settles you’ll receive £5 in free bets to use on the sportsbook. Free bets are active for seven days.

New customers can use the Virgin Bet sign up offer below to claim £30 in free bets after registering online, depositing £10 and betting £10 on any market.

If you’re having a bet, it’s vital to practice responsible gambling.

Betting can be addictive, and it’s important to stay in control of your gambling, whether you’re using the best betting sites, casino sites, slot sites, bingo sites or any other gambling platform.

Never treat gambling as a way to make money, never bet more than you can afford and when the fun stops, stop.

Gambling sites offer punters tools, like deposit limits, profit and loss trackers and self-exclusion options, to help you stay in control.

Try not to get carried away by free bets or casino bonuses, which are widely available on gambling apps.

But if you ever feel like you need help or advice on gambling addiction, don’t hesitate to contact one of the charities or organisations below.

We may earn commission from some of the links in this article, but we never allow this to influence our content. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.