Russia vs Turkey
International Friendlies
Date: Tuesday, 5th June 2018
Kick-Off at 17:00 UK / 18:00 CET
Venue: VEB Arena, Moscow.
Stanislav Cherchesov’s troops will be desperate for the result in their final friendly ahead of the World Cup curtain raiser against Saudi Arabia next Thursday. They host Turkey looking to boost up the confidence after a horrendous streak of four losses and a draw in last five internationals.
The latest of failures came six days ago when the World Cup hosts fell to Austria 1-0 away in Innsbruck. The Russians just failed to create in the final third as Cherchesov might reconsider the decision of playing with lone striker as Fedor Smolov could not do much alone up front against a side that has failed to qualify for FIFA’s flagship event on the day.
Moving forward, Russia bagged just one goal in last three friendlies, but the lack on inspiration against Austria is what hurts most as goals were hardly expected in previous with the likes of Brazil and France anyways.
Russia vs Turkey Head-to-head
Only two goals were seen in three head to head encounters between these two sides.
Interestingly, Turkey have never managed to find the back of the net in these three outings as Russia won two before playing a goalless draw in August 2016.
The first two H2H outings took place back in 1994 and 1998 and they both saw Sbornaya edging past their counterparts (1-0in each of ties).
Russia vs Turkey Predictions
Turkey had a rather dismal campaign in the World Cup Qualifications, but certain improvements can be noticed under Mircea Lucescu. The team head into this with a streak of four games without a loss, but the Romanian manager has reasons to be worried with his defensive line which shipped five goals in last three friendlies against teams like Montenegro, Iran and Tunisia.
Team’s top scorer Cenk Tosun was sent off in the recent 2-2 draw with Tunisia and he will likely be left out here after a troublesome behaviour which followed the red card. The Russians are really desperate for the result and they’ll be highly motivated to get one which is why we notice the value in backing the home win at 2.00 odds in the clash at VEB Arena.
This will also be a fantastic occasion for the World Cup hosts to raise their spirits when it comes to their attacking displays given Turkey obviously lacked the meticulousness at the back in their recent outings. You can have Russia to score two or more goals at the odds of 2.20.
Russia vs Turkey Betting Tips
- Russia to win @ 2.00
- Russia Over 1.5 Team Goals @ 2.20.
