Having had a poor start to the qualifying campaign, both Montenegro and Russia will see the clash in Podgorica as a perfect opportunity to revive their qualifying hopes.

The disappointing finish to the 2014 World Cup qualifiers ended up costing the Brave Falcons an opportunity to battle for a place at the tournament finals, and the team continued to struggle afterwards.

While they did beat Luxembourg and Ghana in international friendlies a 2-0 loss to Slovakia and goalless draw with Iran were hardly the perfect warm-up for the Euro 2016 qualifiers.

Montenegro, nonetheless, started well, beating Moldova at home, but the goalless draw with Liechtenstein acted as a major blow to the players’ confidence.

And with Branko Brnovic’s side taking just one point from next two fixtures, anything but a win over Russia would seriously damage their qualifying chances.

The good news is that Mirko Vucinic and Stevan Jovetic will finally play together up front, so bear in mind home win pays 4.00 (3/1).

Kortrijk midfielder Adam Marusic has switched his allegiance to Montenegro and will be looking to make his debut against Russia, having impressed in Belgium’s top flight this season.

Fiorentina defender Stefan Savic was ruled out through injury, with veteran centre-back Savo Pavicevic called to replace him.

Probable starting line-up (4-4-2): M. Bozovic – Pavicevic, Basa, Tomasevic, Volkov – Beciraj, Zverotic, N. Vukcevic, V. Bozovic – Jovetic, Vucinic.

Russia made it to the 2014 World Cup, but were largely disappointing at the tournament finals, failing to win any of three group fixtures.

Italian coach Fabio Capello only stayed at the helm due to extremely high compensation package that he would pocket in case he had been sacked, and the team have shown little improvement since.

Russia did hammer minnows Liechtenstein in their opening Euro 2016 qualifier, but they have since been largely disappointing.

Back to back draws against Sweden and Moldova were followed by the 1-0 away loss to Austria, meaning Zbornaya Komanda are now in a similar position to their next opponents.

However, with so many high-quality players in their ranks, it is hardly surprising Russia have been made 2.10 (11/10) favourites to claim maximum points.

Fabio Capello is sweating over the fitness of Igor Denisov and Oleg Shatov, who both missed a large chunk of Wednesday’s training session.

Meanwhile, with Artem Dzyuba struggling for form, Aleksandr Kokorin is widely expected to start as a lone striker at Stadion Pod Goricom.

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