Having been placed into one of the most evenly matched groups in the European Zone of the 2014 World Cup qualifiers, both Slovenia and Switzerland will be hoping to gain an early advantage over their rivals for the first place in the group.

Following some decent showings at the 2010 World Cup, Slovenia entered the Euro 2012 qualifiers high on confidence, but they ended up narrowly missing out on a place in the play-offs to Estonia.

Long-serving coach Matjaz Kek was subsequently replaced with Slavisa Stojanovic and the team have since been recording some pretty good results.

Friendly defeat to USA was followed by draws against Scotland and Greece, before the Zmajceki beat Romania in their final warm-up game.

With first choice keeper Samir Handanovic the only notable missing, Slovenia go into this game in great spirits, but odds of 2.90 (19/10) offered at Sportingbet on home win clearly shows that it is Switzerland who are considered favourites here.

Experienced keeper Jasmin Handanovic is likely to replace his cousin in goal, while Zlatan Dedic and Tim Matavz are expected to form the attacking partnership.

Probable starting line-up (4-4-2): J. Handanovic – Brecko, Suler, Cesar, Jokic – Kirm, Vrsic, Radosavljevic, Birsa – Dedic, Matavz.

Switzerland may have missed out on the Euro 2012, but the team led by Ottmar Hitzfeld have yet to realize their full potential.

The Swiss are an up and coming side with tremendous amount of potential and attacking prowess, as witnessed by the 5-3 victory over Germany and 4-2 triumph over Croatia.

Ottmar Hitzfeld has done well to get rid of senior strikers Alexander Frei and Streller, who were doing the team more harm than good, with Mario Gavranovic and Eren Derdiyok now given a chance to impress.

With the likes of Behrami, Inler, Dzemaili and Shaqiri in the centre of the park and some very experienced players at the back, the Swiss look a good bet at 2.62 (13/8) offered by BetVictor.

The visitors arrive to Slovenia at full strength and they are expected to line up in a 4-2-3-1 formation.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Benaglio – Lichtsteiner, Von Bergen, Djourou, Rodriguez – Inler, Xhaka – Shaqiri, Dzemaili, Barnetta – Derdiyok.