With Serbia and Republic of Ireland sitting four points clear at the Group D summit, this will feel as the last chance for both Wales and Austria to improve their qualifying hopes.

The two sides are currently tied on eight points and they are both aware that anything but a win in Cardiff would spell serious trouble.

The current crop of Wales players went straight into the history books as they not only secured their place at the Euro 2016 finals, but went on to reach the semis in France.

However, the Dragons were then placed in an evenly matched group and they have so far failed to impress, winning just one of their six fixtures, while recording no fewer than five draws.

Five straight shares of spoils followed the opening triumph over Moldova, and unless they can now win the remaining four games, Wales will probably miss out on the World Cup.

Even though Chris Coleman faces some selection problems, the Dragons have been made 23/20 favourites to see off Austria in Cardiff.

The boss will have to make do without Joe Allen and Neil Taylor, who are both suspended, but Aaron Ramsey has been passed fit.

Joe Ledley is included despite being without a club at the moment and his fitness will be assessed before the match.

Probable starting line-up (3-4-2-1): Hennessey – Chester, Williams, Davies – Gunter, Edwards, Ledley, Richards – Bale, Ramsey – Vokes.

Austria largely impressed in the Euro 2016 qualifiers and they performed well at the tournament finals, but were quite unfortunate to crash out in the group stage.

Das Team then struggled in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, defeating only Moldova and Georgia, while struggling against direct competitors.

Austria were beaten by Serbia and Republic of Ireland, while sharing spoils with Wales, so they definitely need to improve if they want to book a ticket to Russia.

The double header against Wales and Georgia comes at a bad time for Marcel Koller, who has a number of important players on the sidelines.

The good news is that Marko Arnautovic is back from suspension, but Zlatko Junuzovic, Alessandro Schopf, Valetino Lazaro and Robert Almer are all sidelined.

Schalke forward Guido Burgstaller was forced to withdraw, with Sturm midfielder Stefan Hierlander called as his replacement.

Probable starting line-up (4-1-4-1): Linder – Lainder, Prodl, Dragovic, Hinteregger – Baumgartlinger – Harnik, Alaba, Grillitsch, Arnautovic – Janko.