Russia – Cyprus

Seeking to make it five wins from five in the World Cup qualifiers, Russia play host to Cyprus at the Krestovsky Stadium on Thursday. The visitors are currently rooted to the bottom of Group H after a rough start to the campaign and will be looking to upset the hosts and pick up just their second win.

Russia continued their blistering run of results in the qualifiers as they claimed a 2-1 win away to Slovenia in their last outing. Cyprus, on the other hand, ended their dire losing streak last time out courtesy of a 2-2 draw with Malta on home turf.

This will be the fifth meeting between the two sides. Russia have been utterly dominant in the history of this fixture, claiming four wins in that time. Russia have been utterly dominant in their hunt for a place in Qatar and sit at the top of the group standings. Looking at the gulf in class and quality between the two sides, we anticipate they will comfortably claim all three points in this encounter.