Russia – Sweden

The Euro 2016 qualifying tournaments continues this Saturday, as Russia and Sweden square off in an important Group G clash. Sweden is second with 12 points, Russia is third with 8 points, while Austria is leading the group with 16 points. This will be a battle for the 2nd place.

The hosts will begin life without Fabio Capello, who was replaced by Leonid Slutsky last month. Russia played at an underwhelming level so far in these qualifiers, really disappointing and only the default 3-0 win in Montenegro keeps them with big chances to qualify – if that match ended 0-0 (the score when the game was stopped), Montenegro and Russia would now be tied in points. Not even at home did Russia impress, as their last match was a 0-1 defeat against Austria in Moscow and they also failed to defeat Moldova at the same venue.

Sweden will come here to defend the second position, which guarantees direct qualification for Euro 2016. The visitors are not turning too many heads with their level of football, but they are playing a solid gameplan, have Ibrahimovic to save the day and for that reason Sweden is still undefeated in this group, getting good results. Last time out, today`s visitors got a healthy home win against Montenegro, 3-1.

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Team news & lineups:

Sweden has a very experienced squad ready for this clash, though they miss Kallstrom and Olsson is a doubt as well. Russia has a single player playing outside the domestic league in the squad (Cheryshev).

Russia: Akinfeev – Kombarov, Ignashevich, Berezutski, Zhirkov – Denisov, Shirokov, Shatov – Cheryshev, Kokorin, Smolov

Sweden: Isaksson – Bengtsson, Granqvist, Wendy, Antonsson – Ekdal, Wernbloom – Durmaz, Toivonen, Larsson – Ibrahimovic

I don`t think the change of manager will have much of an impact, the Russian just seem unable to create chances and even the individual quality is questionable. An organized and disciplined team like the Swedish one seems exactly the kind of opponent that can frustrate Russia. Earlier in this Group the two sides recorded a 1-1 tie in Sweden (no Zlatan) and I think we could see something similar today.

The draw seems like the most likely result in this match, but I would not be shocked with Sweden getting a late winner if Russia decides to lose caution and force a win. My tip is Sweden +0,5 handicap. Prediction: Russia – Sweden 0-0.

Pick: Sweden +0,5
Odds: 1.84 @ Sbobet
Stake: 8
Possible profit: 6.72
Event date: 5 September