Slovenia heads into their 2022 World Cup qualifiers this week with a win securing their bid against Russia. The match schedules for Monday evening at the Ljudski VRT, with kickoff at 9:45 pm.
The hosts currently sit third in the group rankings, one place but six points behind Russia. Only two games remain in the Group H encounters.
Slovenia kept their chances alive of reaching the World Cup next Friday, as they comfortably beat Malta 4-0 at the Ta ‘Qali National Stadium.
Josip Ilicic gave Atalanta the lead in the middle of the first half before doubling his goals in the second half, sandwiched between the goals of Andraz Sporar and Benjamin Sesko.
However, the losses of the group rivals below them on the same evening meant that Kekci could make up no ground on the occupied playoff and qualification places.
Russia beat Slovakia in a 1-0 home win on Friday and has now taken the lead over Croatia in the group, which is only in second place due to its worse goal difference.
After a poor performance at the European Cup this summer and elimination from the group stage, Russia reacted well with an unbeaten series of four games in which they have not yet conceded a goal.
The guests need to increase our performance immediately on Monday because Slovenia expects a brilliant start and a fight for the decisive victory against the Russians.
Slovenia vs. Russia Head to Head
Both sides have three games against each other, with Slovenia taking one win while Russia with two wins. Here is a look at their previous encounters:
Home
- Malta 0-4 Slovenia
- Croatia 3-0 Slovenia
- Slovenia 1-0 Malta
- Slovenia 1-1 Slovakia
- Gibraltar 1-6 Slovenia
Away
- Russia 1-0 Slovakia
- Russia 2-0 Malta
- Cyprus 0-2 Russia
- Russia 0-0 Croatia
- Russia 1-4 Denmark
Slovenia Team News
A major injury boost for the hosts is the fitness of forwarding Illicic, who featured in their win over Malta. Zan Karnicnik made his debut last weekend in place of the injured Petar Stojanovic. However, there are no other fresh injury concerns in the starting lineup.
Russia Team News
Major players unavailable for selection include Aleksandr Golovin, Artem Dzyuba and Dennis Cheryshev. Therefore, head coach Karpin remains limited when it comes to the attacking options. Also, we expect many changes in the starting lineup following their recent poor performances.
Prediction and Odds
We expect the hosts to use their home advantage, and also the injury contenders for the guests present an opportunity
- Double Chance
- Draw
- Goals under 2.5
