Russia vs Croatia

Russia and Croatia will battle it out for a top place in the World Cup qualifying Group H when the two nations lock horns at Luzhniki Stadium.

Though a 2-1 loss away to Slovakia in their most recent World Cup qualifier could be considered a minor setback, the Russians look to be on course of securing automatic progression to Qatar 2022 with two wins from three Group H fixtures. That loss to Slovenia actually marked Russia’s first World Cup qualifying reverse in almost eight years as the ‘Sbornaya’ seek their first H2H victory since the dissolution of the Soviet Union (D2, L2). Valeri Karpin’s side should be filled with confidence considering their imperious form across their last 13 World Cup qualifying matches on home soil (W12, L1). There was plenty of action across those 12 victories, as eight featured over 2.5 FT goals, which has been the case in seven of Russia’s last ten internationals overall.

On the other hand, the visitors have bounced back from a 1-0 away loss to Slovenia on Matchday 1, putting together two straight World Cup qualifying triumphs ‘to nil.’ Croatia headed into their Euro 2020 campaign, which resulted in a last-16 elimination to Spain, winless in four internationals on foreign soil (D1, L3). In fact, the 2018 World Cup runners-up have failed to win any of their last six competitive away fixtures (D2, L4), netting under 1.5 goals five times in the process. Since their eye-catching second-place finish in Russia three years ago, the Croats have picked up just one victory from 11 road games in all competitions (D2, L8), worryingly conceding 2+ goals in 70% of the matches they failed to win in that sequence.

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