Norway's shock loss against Slovenia earlier on Saturday put pressure on Sweden ahead of the decider in the Nations League.
For Blågult – who are now last in group 4 – it is important to have Slovenia behind them in the final table to stay in the B division.
This means that Sweden will meet Slovenia in a directly decisive match for relegation at the Friends arena on Tuesday.
The loss against Serbia, 1-4, means that Sweden must now win against Slovenia in order not to slip out.
Blågult otherwise had a dream start away against Serbia, where Viktor Claesson made it 1-0 after a quarter.
But it didn't get any more fun for Sweden.
Fulham star Aleksandar Mitrovic responded by scoring twice before the break, then completed his hat-trick at the start of the second half following video review.
With 20 minutes left in the game, Torino midfielder Sasa Lukic made it 4-1.
- We are not good enough.
It's not more difficult than that, says Emil Forsberg to Viaplay and continues:
- We don't play a good enough match.
It's not good enough.
We make it easy for them, lose the ball easily and concede far too easy goals.
CLIP: Janne Andersson on the decision to cancel Qatar trip (23 Sep 2022)
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Jan Andersson.
Photo: Bildbyrån.