San Marino v Austria
San Marino

San Marino vs Austria

, KO: 19:45 , San Marino Stadium
Austria

Austria got off to a winning start in the World Cup qualifiers on Saturday and should make it two wins from two when they visit minnows San Marino.

With Bosnia and Herzegovina winning their first three games to romp clear at the top of Group H, Austria were playing catch up when they kicked off their campaign at home to Romania on Saturday night.

They claimed a 2-1 Vienna victory to get off the mark and the goal they conceded right at the death would have been celebrated loudly by The Betting Desk as it brought up all three bets from their match preview.

With the Romanians losing two of their first three qualifiers it looks like Austria and the Bosnians will be scrapping it out for top spot and automatic entry to next summer's finals.

San Marino look ill-equipped to deal with Ralf Rangnick's men, although they did push Bosnia hard on Saturday afternoon, losing just 1-0 as I salvaged something with a corner bet that landed.

It's three defeats from three qualifiers for the perennial whipping boys and Austria should have too much class for the minnows here.

How the bookies view it: Austrians to romp it

San Marino rarely start a qualifying game at short odds and they're BoyleSports 22/1 outsiders for this one. Austria are tiny at 1/66 and the draw pays 7/1.

Head to head: Minnows rout of their depth

This is just the third meeting of these nations and the last two results don't bode well for San Marino. They lost 4-1 at home in the qualifiers for Euro 2000 then followed it up with a 7-0 loss in Austria.

Players to watch: Baumgartner back for more

Christoph Baumgartner is always a goal threat from midfield for the Austrians, with the RB Leipzig star netting 18 times for his country. He's 10/11 for anytime scorer here with Bet365 after drawing a blank on Saturday.

Lorenzo Lazzari did a decent job up front for San Marino in Bosnia and should get another chance to impress. He's 28/1 for anytime scorer at Bet365.

Probable line-ups

Austria should be along similar lines to the team that beat Romania, although manager Ralf Rangnick may freshen things up a bit. Lorenzo Capicchioni was hooked at half-time for San Marino against the Bosnians so could lose his place here.

San Marino: Colombo, Benvenuti, Fabbri, Cevoli, Riccardi, Casadei, Golinucci, Zannoni, Nanni, Contadini and Lazzari.

Austria: Pentz, Danso, Lienhart, Mwene, Wimmer, Seiwald, Sabitzer, Schlager, Baumgartner, Laimer, Gregoritsch.

Anything else catch the eye?

San Marino defended well at the weekend but I've a feeling they could struggle to cope with the intensity and pressing of Rangnick's side if Austria are on top of their game.

So I fancy over 3.5 Austrian goals at 8/11 with Paddy Power while combining over 1.5 first-half goals with over 3.5 match goals pays 20/23 in a Bet365 bet builder.

Rangnick's players will want to kill this one off early in their final outing before the summer holidays. That makes backing most goals to come in the first half a decent option at 17/10 with 888Sport.

With San Marino likely to defend deep for most of the game, we could see a penalty in this one and SkyBet price a spot-kick at 11/10.

San Marino vs Austria Betting Tips & Predictions
Christoph Baumgartner to score
10/11
Bet365
Over 1.5 first-half goals and over 3.5 match goals
20/23
Bet365
Most goals in first half
17/10
888Sport
Further Reading
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