Russia vs Belgium Predictions

Both Belgium and Russia have made impressive work of this group. They each have more than double the points of the side in third and there are still two more games to play. The pair meet this week battling for first place, which would be a huge boost to the hosts. However, they are also meeting a Belgium side who got complacent and blew top spot in their Nations League group after losing to the Swiss in the final game. They’ll hope to avoid a repeat here.

Russia have enjoyed some great results in the Nations League and the qualifiers since their World Cup hosting duties. However, this is their biggest test to date. Having brushed aside some teams from a poor qualifying group, Russia need to step up against the Red Devils, but can the hosts add a major scalp to their victories to date.

Belgium are out to extend their perfect record in this group. The visitors have been in great form post-World Cup, winning 12 of their last 14 outings. That record has come with plenty of goals for the Red Devils’ forward line, but it has also seen them impress at the back. Right now, Belgium seem like the most balanced side in Europe and they’ll be hoping to go all the way with their golden generation next summer.

Belgium head here as the favourites and that seems fair given the gulf in quality between these two. We think the bookies may have a few worries about Belgium’s ambitions here, but we struggle to see them taking it easy for their biggest test of the group. They’ll want to prove themselves in a big away trip, which would be vital experience before a tournament which has plenty of teams playing at home.

We think Belgium are good value here, especially given their recent record against the Russians. The Red Devils have won four of the last five clashes between these two, while their perfect record in qualifying has us backing the visitors to take all three points this weekend.

We had questions about Belgium’s defence moving forward post-World Cup, but those have started to fade away following some fine results. They’ve managed to go seven games without conceding a goal, while they should be able to boss a Russia side who just can’t match up to the Red Devils’ talent. Given how impressive the visitors are, we are going with a 2-0 away win as our correct score pick with Belgium hitting 30 goals in just eight games.