Hello and welcome to Eurosport's live commentary from the World Cup Group D Qualifier between Serbia and the Republic of Ireland. This is Nick Royle (@nickaroyle) taking you through all the action from the Crvena Zvezda Stadium in Belgrade.

O'Neill admits that there is little room for error with just one automatic qualification spot up for grabs. "Three of our first four games are away from home. We need to stay in the competition before we actually even get into it, and these games are tough,” the Derryman said. "I think this will be so tight. Teams will take points from each other. We could end up with the lowest number of points. But if you end up on top, where you want to be, then does that matter?"

The Republic of Ireland have never beaten Serbia in three previous encounters, losing two and playing out a goalless draw in their last match in Belgrade in August 2012. The last time Ireland played a competitive match in Belgrade, Serbia was still part of Yugoslavia.

Serbia skipper Branislav Ivanovic is expecting a tough battle against an Ireland team that combines youth with experience. "What I am especially impressed about is their level of continuity," the Chelsea defender said. "They have been playing together for a while, there’s a nice mix of young players and players with experience, and it might be the fact that I have played in the Premier League for so long that I understand how difficult an opponent Ireland really is."

"Are we in better shape? We should be. I'm not talking about physically but mentally we should be with some of the games we've gone through," O'Neill said. "In those matches we had in France, I actually think that strength of knowing that we beat Germany and came through against Bosnia [in the qualifiers was a help]"

O'Neill hopes Ireland's run to the last 16 of Euro 2016 has helped his players acclimatise to the demands of international football.

Muslin is looking to take Serbia to their first major tournament since the 2010 World Cup, with Wales, Austria, Georgia, Moldova and Ireland also competing for the one automatic qualifying place for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Austria beat Georgia 2-1 in the group's earlier match in Tbilisi this afternoon.

Muslin took over from Curcic, who was sacked in April, and has overseen friendly victories over Cyprus and Israel in May and a 1-1 draw with Russia in Monaco in June, but the 63-year-old's recent club managerial record is patchy, and he lasted just two months in his last job at Standard Liege amid rumours that his brusque style alienated the players.

Muslin is without Manchester City defender Aleksandar Kolarov and Chelsea midfielder Nemanja Matic, who were both dismissed at the Red Star Stadium as Serbia missed out on a place at the Euro 2016 finals, finishing fourth in Group I behind Portugal, Albania and Denmark.

Serbia boss Slavoljub Muslin has made eight changes to the side that started the 2-1 home defeat to Portugal in their final Euro 2016 qualifier in October 2015, as he looks to create a younger squad from the one he inherited from his predecessor Radovan Curcic. Only Luka Milivojevic, Dusan Tadic, and Aleksandar Mitrovic remain from the team that started in Belgrade 11 months ago.

SERBIA: Rajkovic, Ivanovic, Nastasic, Vukovic, Rukavina, Mladenovic, Gudelj, Milivojevic, Kostic, Tadic, Mitrovic. Subs: To follow.///REPUBLIC OF IRELAND. Randolph, Coleman, O'Shea, Keogh, Ward, Whelan, Hendrick, Walters, Brady, McClean, Long. Subs: To follow.

The game goes ahead after a pitch inspection by Hungarian referee Viktor Kassai - it has been raining all day in the Serbian capital.

Everton full-back Seamus Coleman starts in Belgrade and captains the side despite not playing for his club this season following an ankle injury. Glenn Whelan replaces the injured James McCarthy in the holding role in front of the back four, with Jeff Hendrick and Robbie Brady starting in central midfield, while Jon Walters starts on the right flank in place of Daryl Murphy.

Ireland manager Martin O'Neill has made three changes to the side that started their last competitive fixture, the 2-1 defeat to France in the Euro 2016 Round of 16 tie in Lyon on 26 June. Ireland defender Shane Duffy misses out through suspension following his red card against France in Lyon, so Sunderland central defender John O'Shea starts despite missing the last three weeks with a hip injury.