Turkey vs Russia Predictions & Betting Tips, Match Previews

Turkey had an utterly dismal Euro 2016 in a tough group that included Spain, Croatia and Czech Republic. They were never likely to make it out of the group, but the complete lack of belief during their 3-0 loss to Spain resulted in their own fans turning on them.

The main outlet of their anger was star player Arda Turan, and it’s an outcry that has resulted in the Barcelona player being left out of the squad. He’s had a torrid summer, adding to his international woes, the fact that Barcelona were trying to sell him, although he’s since been given a chance to impress at the Nou Camp.

Turkey aren’t short of midfielders to replace him though, with the likes of Hakan Calhanoglu, Gokhan Tore, Mehmet Topal, and Nuri Sahin all providing a formidable midfield line. They also have the highly rated teenager Emre Mor battling for a position. Overall they have a pretty good squad to play with, but this didn’t show in France during the summer.

Russia had an even worse time of things in France. They were threatened with disqualification after their fans provoked huge brawls in the streets of Marseille and brought fireworks into the ground. In addition to their off the field problems they were also shocking on the pitch. They got a last minute equaliser against England, but both Slovakia and Wales beat them fairly comfortably and deservedly.

They looked severely lacking in pace in all areas of the pitch and didn’t have a single star player to call upon in their time of need. This resulted in a complete absence of creativity all over the park. A number of uncapped players have been included in this particular squad as they look to improve, but I expect it will take some time for them to fit into the team.

Of course Russia have two years to fine tune their formation now that they don’t have to rely on qualification due to their host nation status, so we could see some big changes within their team.

Turkey will have to adapt straight away though. They kick World Cup qualification off on Monday with a tough match in Croatia, and with Iceland and Ukraine also in their group, it could be tough for them to make it to Russia in 2018.

Whilst Turkey may find it tough in their group, I think the talent in the midfield section will be more than enough to defeat Russia on Wednesday. They have won six and drawn two of their last eight home matches, and odds of 1.825 for a Turkey 0.0 Asian Handicap Win look good value to me. I’m going for a 2-1 correct score prediction at 9/1 as well.