Slovenia will be bidding to record their first victory of their 2024-25 UEFA Nations League campaign when they welcome Kazakhstan to Stozice Stadium on Monday night.
The hosts opened their League B Group 3 campaign with a 1-1 draw against Austria on Friday, while Kazakhstan played out a goalless draw with Norway on the same night.
Match preview
Slovenia took the lead in the 18th minute of their contest with Austria last time out, with Benjamin Sesko on the scoresheet from the penalty spot, but Konrad Laimer levelled the scores in the 28th minute.
Matjaz Kek's side are now on a run of six matches without a win, but they have drawn five times during that period, including their three group games at Euro 2024, and they were then beaten on penalties by Portugal in the round of 16 following a goalless draw.
As a result, Slovenia have not been beaten over 90 minutes since November 2023, and they will be the favourites to secure all three points on Monday, which would move them onto four points in League B Group 3 ahead of their two games with Norway and Kazakhstan in October.
Slovenia earned promotion to League B for the 2022-23 Nations League, and they finished third in Group 4 last time out behind Serbia and Norway, with Sweden being relegated from that section.
The national side will be tackling Kazakhstan for the third time on Monday, and they have been victorious in their two previous encounters, with those games taking place during qualification for Euro 2024.
Kazakhstan, meanwhile, ended a run of four straight losses on Friday evening, holding Norway to a goalless draw in their opening match of the 2024-25 Nations League.
The Hawks are competing in League B for the first time, having earned promotion from League C last time out by finishing top of Group 3 ahead of Azerbaijan, Slovakia and Belarus.
Stanislav Cherchesov's side were last victorious in March, recording a 2-0 win over Turkmenistan, and they lost to Greece, Luxembourg, Armenia and Azerbaijan ahead of their 0-0 draw with Norway.
Kazakhstan will take on Austria and Slovenia again in their October games, and their performance against Norway would have given them confidence heading into the next few fixtures, having been able to keep a certain Erling Haaland quiet in the contest on Friday night.
Team News
Slovenia have not reported any injury concerns from their clash with Austria, and it would not be a surprise to see almost the same XI take to the field for this contest.
That said, there will almost certainly be a change between the sticks, with Jan Oblak set to return, replacing Matevz Vidovsek, who earned just his second cap last time out.
Sesko scored his 12th international goal last time out, and the 21-year-old, who plays his club football for RB Leipzig, is set to be joined by Andraz Sporar in the final third of the field.
As for Kazakhstan, Abat Aymbetov has nine goals in 37 caps for his country, and the 29-year-old is again set to lead the line for the visitors on Monday night.
There are not expected to be any real surprises in their XI for this contest, with Askhat Tagybergen preparing to sport the captain's armband once again.
There is a lot of experience in the current squad, but the likes of Islam Chesnokov and Ramazan Orazov are in the early stages of their international career, and both are set to start against Slovenia.
Slovenia possible starting lineup:
Oblak; Brekalo, Drkusic, Bijol, Janza; Stojanovic, Cerin, Elsnik, Lovric; Sesko, Sporar
Kazakhstan possible starting lineup:
Shatskiy; Bystrov, Kasym, Marochkin, Alip, Vorogovskiy; Orazov, Tagybergen, Zaynutdinov, Chesnokov; Aymbetov
We say: Slovenia 1-0 Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan will take a lot of confidence from their goalless draw with Norway, but Slovenia have home advantage here, and we are backing Kek's team to navigate their way to a narrow success on Monday night.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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