Russia welcome Malta to the Otkrytiye Arena for their 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifier on Tuesday.
This is the second meeting between the two sides drawn in Group H and Malta will be looking to secure victory against their hosts after falling to a 3-1 defeat in March’s reverse fixture.
Russia returned to winning ways last Saturday when they claimed a 2-0 victory over Cyprus away from home.
In an end-to-end affair, Aleksandr Erokhin and Rifat Zhemaletdinov scored in either half to hand the Russians all three points.
Prior to that, Valeri Georgievich Karpin’s men failed to win their previous two outings, picking up one win and losing one.
The win saw Russia maintain their lead at the top of Group H, tied on 10 points with Croatia.
Meanwhile, Malta were denied a second straight win as they fell to a 1-0 defeat against Slovenia last time out.
Sandi Lovrić came up trumps for the Slovenians as he scored the only goal of the game in the 44th minute.
With four points from five games, Malta are currently tied with rock-bottom Cyprus in the group standings.
Russia vs Malta Head-To-Head
This will be the third-ever meeting between the two sides. Russia have been dominant in their two previous meetings, claiming wins on both occasions.
Russia Form Guide (all competitions): L-W-L-D-W
Malta Form Guide (all competitions): L-L-L-W-L
Russia vs Malta Team News
Russia
Russia head into this game with a clean bill of health and no suspension concerns.
Injured: None
Suspended: None
Malta
Twenty-four-year-old midfielder Joseph Mbong is a doubt for the game after coming off with an injury midway through the game against Slovenia.
Injured: None
Suspended: None
Doubtful: Joseph Mbong
Russia vs Malta Predicted XI
Russia Predicted XI (4-3-3): Guilherme Marinato; Mário Fernandes, Igor Diveev, Georgiy Dzhikiya, Vyacheslav Karavaev; Daler Kuzyaev, Dmitriy Barinov, Aleksandr Golovin; Aleksey Ionov, Aleksei Miranchuk, Arsen Zakharyan
Malta Predicted XI (3-4-3): Henry Bonello; Steve Borg, Enrico Pepe, Kurt Shaw; Ryan Camenzuli, Teddy Teume, Stephen Pisani, Cain Attard; Paul Mbong, Shaun Dimech, Alexander Satariano
Russia vs Malta Prediction
Russia will head into the game in sky-high spirits following their 2-0 win over Cyprus and will be looking to keep the ball rolling.
They won each of the two meetings against Malta and we predict this trend will continue on Tuesday.
Prediction: Russia 2-0 Malta
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