Top two sides in Group G will face each other at Ernst Happel Stadion in Wien, hoping to make another important step towards the tournament finals.

But, while Austria sit two points clear and enter into the game in great spirits, Russia seem to be going through a very rough patch at the moment.

While they were awarded a place at the Euro 2008 having co-hosted the tournament, Austria have failed to qualify for tournament finals since 1998 and they are now eager to end the barren run.

For the first time after quite a while, it appears Das Team have a realistic chance of securing progress, even if their qualifying group is anything but easy.

Marcel Koller’s charges failed to defeat Sweden at home in their opening fixture, but they made amends by beating Moldova away, before climbing to the top of the standings with a narrow win over Montenegro.

Austria now have a great chance to further increase their lead at the top by beating out-of-sorts Russia and they can be backed at 2.88 (17/9) to claim maximum points.

Starting striker Marc Janko returns having missed the Montenegro game through suspension, while Marko Arnautovic is fit to play despite suffering a wrist injury a week ago.

The absence of David Alaba is likely to prove the biggest issue, with Christoph Leitgeb and Veli Kavlak vying for one place in midfield.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Almer – Klein, Dragovic, Prodl, Fuchs – Baumgartlinger, Leitgeb – Harnik, Junuzovic, Arnautovic – Janko.

Russia have not been performing up to their potential under Fabio Capello and the Italian coach would have certainly been sacked after the disappointing World Cup showing if it hadn’t been for the hefty compensation package.

The national team chiefs have now admitted they are struggling to pay the Italian’s bumper wage, with his assistants Christian Panucci and Massimo Neri already leaving the side.

Given the circumstances, it is hardly surprising Russia are far from their best at the moment, with the team taking just two points from last two qualifiers against Sweden and Moldova.

And while Fabio Capello’s charges are 2.75 (7/4) to win in Austria, I am not sure there is any sort of value in those odds.

The boss has decided to recall experienced midfielder Roman Shirokov for this all-important game, but Artem Dzyuba is unlikely to start having failed to make an appearance for his club over the last two weeks.

This basically means that Aleksandr Kokorin will be deployed as a lone striker as Capello looks set to adopt a cautious approach.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Akinfeev – Smolnikov, Ignashevich, V. Berezutski, D. Kombarov – Glushakov, Faizulin – Samedov, Dzagoev, Shatov – Kokorin.