Croatia vs Slovenia: predictions for the World Cup qualifier

We offer a prediction and betting tips for the World Cup qualifier between Croatia and Slovenia. Hosts will play without their captain, Luka Modric, they were defeated by Slovenia in the first round. Will visitors avoid defeat on September 7? The answer is in our prediction.

Command Analysis

Croatia

Croatia dropped from the first place of the group after Russia took the victory over Cyprus. Now The Chequered Ones are on the second place with 10 points, Russians are ahead on tiebreakers.
In the previous round Zlatko Dalic's men played against Slovakia on away. Visitors had a quiet game, they were counting on counter-attacks and one of them was converted into a goal on 86th minute, Croatia took a 1:0 victory. Luka Modric will miss the match against Slovenia due to injury.

Slovenia

Slovenia national team under Matjaz Kek's management is currently on a third place in the group, they picked up seven points in five matches. In the previous match Slovenia played at home against Malta and, to everyone's surprise, scored only one goal (1:0).
Before that they managed to hold Slovakia to draw (1:1) at home.
Trends
СтавкаExact score 1:1
Two out of seven most recent matches of both teams ended with that score

СтавкаCroatia to score in the first half
In four most recent home matches teams scored three goals before the half-time

СтавкаTotal of the first half under 1.5
In three out of four most recent away matches of Slovenia this bet was successful

Tip and bets
Croats can't beat Slovenia at home for three matches in a row. We should note that during this qualification tournament Slovenia beat Croatia in the first round (1:0), so in our opinion, they should be able to withstand on an away match as well.
Luka Modric's absence will probably affect negatively on The Chequered Ones' motivation, he is a key player of team's midfield, so we don't think that he will be replaced properly.
We think that visitors will start the game on defense, trying to contain the hosts' offense, but then they will start to answer with their counter-attacks, it will help them to put up a fight. But of course Croatia will have a chance for a victory.
Our prediction - Asian handicap (+1) for Slovenia
Teams rarely put up high-scoring performance in head-to-head matches - only in one out of five most recent head-to-head games opponents scored more than two goals. In the current qualification tournament both teams are not looking great on the offense. In our opinion, we will see another low-scoring game between the opponents.
Our second bet will be on total under 2.5 goals