Russia vs Romania Predictions & Betting Tips, Match Previews

Russia certainly aren’t looking like a side who will take advantage of the home status of the next World Cup. Their friendly appearances since Euro 2016 have been terrible in general, and it continued on Thursday when they lost 2-1 to Qatar.

This followed on from a 4-3 home defeat to Costa Rica last month, and their only victory since March was a slim win at home to Ghana in September. This makes it one win, three draws, and six defeats in their last ten matches, which includes their dismal Euro 2016 showing.

Russia’s main issue at the moment is a complete absence of pace and penetration going forward, instead relying on target men up front with no overlapping runners to take advantage of any flick ons and not enough talent in the midfield to help them out when they hold the ball up. To make matters even worse, there aren’t any particularly promising looking youth prospects coming into the squad either.

This gives Romania an excellent chance at rebuilding their confidence after Friday’s 3-0 defeat at home to Poland. The game was marred by crowd trouble after fans threw flares at Polish striker Robert Lewandowki. That stunt ended up backfiring as the Bayern Munich man recovered to net two late goals to seal the victory.

Romania’s defeat made it two wins, three draws, and three defeats in their last eight matches in all competitions, although away from home they have looked fairly good recently.

The visitors are unbeaten in nine away days at the moment, with four of those ending in victory and the other five being defeats. Russia have lost three of their last five at home as well, so Romania have a real chance of getting something here.

Considering both sides’ recent form, not to mention Russia’s abject attacking force and Romania’s generally strong back line, I think a Romania Win or Draw Double Chance backing at 7/10 is the best option here, along with a 1-1 correct score prediction at 5/1.