Euro 2016 Qualifying: Russia vs Sweden preview

September 4, 2015
By: Nemanja Lazarevic

Sweden vs RussiaHaving suffered a costly home loss to Austria, Russia need to beat Sweden if they are to have any chance to securing automatic qualifying berth.

Meanwhile, Blagult are in a very good position at the moment as any positive result in Moscow would be a giant step towards the tournament finals.

If it hadn’t been for the bumper pay-off needed to sack Fabio Capello, the national team chiefs would have got rid off the Italian much sooner, but they eventually made that decision.

The former Real Madrid boss was sacked after the home defeat to Austria, with CSKA Moscow coach Leonid Slutsky appointed as his successor.

Many believe that this change could help Russia save the current campaign, and, in all fairness, there is still time to make things right.

Zbornaya komanda currently sit four points behind second-placed Sweden and are three points clear of Montenegro, meaning that even the play-off berth could be in danger if they fail to win on Saturday.

And considering that Russia were the better team in the reverse fixture as well as the loss to Austria, bear in mind that home win pays 2.15 (23/20).

Aleksandr Kerzhakov, Viktor Fayzulin and Aleksandr Samedov have all been overlooked, but Roman Shirokov has recovered from injury and should start.

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

While they usually have no problems qualifying for tournament finals, Sweden tends to disappoint at the biggest stage, and they plan to end the poor trend at the Euro 2016.

Blagult obviously first need to qualify for France, but with four games to go, they appear to be on the right track.

Back to back wins over Moldova and Montenegro saw Sweden create a four-point advantage of third-placed Russia, and they won’t be too concerned by the four-point gap behind Austria.

Seeing as they face Liechtenstein and Moldova in addition to hosting group leaders, Blagult only need to get one point from Moscow, and they will have virtually secured the qualifying berth.

With that in mind, you should know that Erik Hamren’s side can be backed at 1.80 (4/5) not to lose at Okrytie Arena in Moscow.

Mikael Lustig, Per Nilsson and Martin Olsson miss out through injury, whereas Kim Kallstrom is suspended for the Russia game.

Probable starting line-up (4-5-1): Isaksson – Bengtsson, Johansson, Granqvist, Wendt – Larsson, Ekdal, Wernbloom, Durmaz, Forsberg – Ibrahimovic.

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