Sweden VS Russia Match Prediction
2018-11-20
19:45:00
Sweden
VS
Russia
Our Prediction Tip
Draw will win this match.
2018-11-2019:45:00 Draw will win this match.
Sweden have won three of their nine matches against Russia, drawing four and losing two, but the Swedes’ last win was back in 1998. They have drawn three and lost two since then, scoring just two goals to Russia’s five. Last month’s match in Russia ended goalless, but Russia won 1-0 in their previous encounter before that – Artem Dzyuba scoring the only goal in a Euro 2016 qualifier.
%HEAD-TO-HEAD-STATS-BANNER%
While the form book is very much in Russia’s favour – or at least it was until last week’s heavy friendly defeat to Germany – injuries have not been kind to the Russians.
Artem Dzyuba’s return is welcome – he has a winning goal against Sweden on his CV too – but the big striker is the only player available again, with Denis Cheryshev, Aleksandr Golovin and Mario Fernandes all big losses.
With Alan Dzagoev and Igor Smolnikov missing out on the initial squad too, Russia are short of quality and experience in key areas.
Sweden, on the other hand, are without Emil Forsberg but do have Jakob Johansson back after his own long absence.
They also go into this game on the back of a win, having ended their post-World Cup winless streak – Andreas Granqvist proving his reliability from the spot once again with the winner against Turkey.
As ever, Sweden’s issue is their lack of goals and obvious goalscoring outlets, however – and as a draw will suit Russia, the danger would be that they fail to break the visitors’ down.
The last match between these two teams ended 0-0, and another draw would be a big result for Russia – securing promotion despite their long injury list.
Sweden’s home advantage and Russia’s long injury list makes the hosts favourites for this one, at 10/11 with Ladbrokes and Betway. A draw suits Russia though and the two drew last time they met. Another draw is a best price of 5/2 with Bet365.
Sweden’s big issue has been scoring goals, and under 2.5 goals in Tuesday’s game is 11/18 with 10Bet or 8/13 with 888sport.
Both teams to score has been set at a best price of 11/10 with 10Bet, meanwhile.
Artem Dzyuba is back in the squad and scored the winning goal when these teams met back in 2015. The big striker is 11/4 to score at any time again.
Russia’s long injury list means backing them for this game would be a gamble – even with Sweden’s poor home form. They have enough to get a draw, however, which would be enough in itself to top the group.
Leeds defender Pontus Jansson has withdrawn from the Sweden squad for the match against Russia, while injured Emil Forsberg was not called up. Jakob Johansson is fit again, however, after a year’s absence and Filip Helander and Robin Quaison have been recalled.
Andreas Granqvist – The Swedish captain has proved reliable from the spot and netted his ninth international goal in 80 appearances.
John Guidetti – Scored Sweden’s goal in their most recent home game – ending a long international drought in the process.
Marcus Berg – After Guidetti ended his goalscoring drought last month, is it time for the Al Ain striker to add to his 18 goals in 66 appearances?
Sweden won for the first time since the World Cup when they beat Turkey in the UEFA Nations League on Saturday – Andreas Granqvist’s penalty earning a 1-0 away win. It followed back-to-back draws in October – a stalemate away to Russia and John Guidetti scoring in a 1-1 friendly draw with Slovakia – and two defeats in September. The latter included a 3-2 loss at home to Turkey, in which they had led 2-0 through Isaac Thelin and Viktor Claesson.
Artem Dzyuba is back in the Russia squad after missing the friendly defeat to Germany but there are still several key players out injured – Denis Cheryshev, Aleksandr Golovin, Mario Fernandes, Roman Zobnin, Fyodor Kudryashov, Konstantin Rausch and Sergei Petrov have all withdrawn from the squad, while Igor Smolnikov and Alan Dzagoev were not selected. There was no debut for Russian Premier League top scorer Fyodor Chalov last time out, however – the striker is now the only uncapped player in the squad.
Artem Dzyuba – One of Russia’s World Cup heroes, the big striker returns to the squad after injury looking to add to his 15 goals in 31 appearances.
Ari – Having scored six goals for Krasnodar so far this season, the striker was handed an international debut against Germany.
Anton Miranchuk – Played the last half-hour against Germany but could start against Sweden after seven goals and an assists so far this season.
A 3-0 friendly defeat in Germany last month was Russia’s first defeat since losing on penalties to Croatia in the World Cup quarter-finals. In between, they beat Turkey home and away in the UEFA Nations League, thrashed the Czech Republic in a friendly and drew with Sweden. Denis Cheryshev scored in both wins against Turkey, with Artem Dzyuba scoring the winner in a 2-1 victory away in September and Roman Neustadter opening the scoring in last month’s 2-0 home success. Against the Czech Republic, Alexei Ionov scored twice and Anton Zabolotnyi, Alexandr Erokhin and Dmitriy Poloz all scored in a 5-1 victory. Their last meeting with Sweden was last month’s goalless draw, however.
Watch Live Streaming