Winners of three Asian Cups and finalists at the last four World Cups, the Saudis are firmly established as one of the continent's powerhouses and sit 69 spots above the South East Asian side in the FIFA world rankings.

For their part, Singapore have never come close to appearing at the World Cup and have not even made it to the Asian Cup finals since hosting the event in 1984.

But under Raddy Avramovic, the Lions have emerged as a force in South East Asia, winning consecutive Asean Football Championship titles and giving China and Iraq a tough time in competitive matches in the past couple of years.

And having seen his team manage only a 2-1 win over the plucky islanders in a friendly last June, dos Anjos has a healthy respect for Singapore ahead of the game at King Fahd Stadium.

"Singapore are a well developed team and they have had impressive performances recently which we must be aware of," said the Brazilian who led the Saudis to second place at last year's Asian Cup.

"We have followed Singapore's preparations closely and we will try our best to take advantage of their weaknesses.

"We have a good mixture of young and experienced faces in our team and hopefully we will be able to do well in the World Cup qualifiers.

"I have a lot confidence in the players that we have selected and I believe they will do well and continue along the road to qualify for the World Cup."

Meanwhile, Avramovic, who recently signed a three-year extension to his contract as Singapore coach, is looking forward to their upcoming tests.

"There are no easy groups at this level but we'll look to surprise the favourites in our section," said the Serbian.

"Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan may be the favourites in our group but football is not just about the favourites. Otherwise the game wouldn't be as intriguing as it is."

Singapore swept through the first two rounds of the World Cup qualifiers, hammering Palestine 4-0 in Doha in the opening round before a 3-1 aggregate victory over Tajikistan.

Wednesday night's other Group Four fixtures see 2007 Asian Cup quarter-finalists Uzbekistan facing unfancied Lebanon at the Sports City Stadium in Beirut.

The Uzbeks, currently ranked sixth in Asia and 66th in the world, have never played Lebanon in an international match but will be keen to erase the memories of their last visit to Beirut for the 2000 Asian Cup when they were whipped 8-1 by Japan and 5-0 by the Saudis.

The Central Asians have made great strides since then and having seen his team hammer Chinese Taipei 11-0 on aggregate in the opening round of the World Cup qualifiers, coach Rauf Inileyev has plenty of confidence for the task ahead.

"Lebanon are a well organised and strong team as they proved by progressing to the third round of qualifying," said Inileyev. "However, we will win the game as long as we perform properly."

Lebanon coach Emile Rustom knows that his side's chances of progressing will depend heavily on getting a result in their opening match.

"Our group in general is not that bad," said Rustom, whose team disposed of India 6-3 on aggregate in the first round. "And in football nothing is impossible, so we will try our best to prepare for the matches although our situation in Lebanon is not encouraging.

"It will be the biggest achievement in the history of Lebanese football if we make it. We are about the same level as Singapore while the Saudis are the favourites to qualify as group winners, so we will have to try to stop Uzbekistan from claiming second spot."