Russia vs Wales Betting Tips & Predictions

Russia came in to Euro 2016 as the second favourites to qualify from Group B behind England, but so far they have been wholly unimpressive. The managed to claw a vital point from England in their group opener thanks to a late equaliser after England completely dominated, but they couldn’t muster the same heroics against Slovakia.

They dominated possession against Marek Hamsik and company, but they were lacking a cutting edge piece of quality required to break down the Slovakian defence. Unfortunately for Russia, Slovakia had just the piece of quality required in Marek Hamsik. The Napoli playmaker played a sublime ball to Vladimir Weiss in the 32nd minute, with the winger controlling the ball nicely before leaving the onrushing Russian defenders for dead when he cut inside and coolly slotted in the opener. Slovakia made it two just before the break as Hamsik received a short corner, took on a defender and curled a beauty of a shot into the far corner. Russia continued to dominate possession, but still couldn’t carve out many real openings. Denis Glushakov pulled one back for them with ten minutes to go, but they couldn’t muster any more and left with nothing.

This puts them rock bottom of Group B with one point from their opening two matches, and they now require a win to stand any chance of qualifying from the group. They would also need Slovakia to lose against England, although a four point haul and a 3rd place finish would probably be enough to send them through.

Wales were left heartbroken in their long awaited competitive clash with England. The English undoubtedly had the better overall quality in their squad, but one thing they don’t have is a Gareth Bale. It was him who made the difference again as he stepped up to a free kick from 35 yards and smashed it towards Joe Hart’s goal. Hart made a mess of the save and gifted Wales a 1-0 lead, but they were hanging on by a thread for the rest of the game. The introduction of Jamie Vardy and Daniel Sturridge at half time proved to be their downfall, with Vardy netting just ten minutes after the restart. It was backs against the wall then, and despite defending heroically for 91 minutes they couldn’t stop Sturridge from weaving his way through the Wales defence and beating Wayne Hennessey at his near post.

They did manage to get a well earned win against Slovakia in the group opener though, and that will prove crucial for them as they come into the final round of group games in 2nd position. They will now be rooting England on against Slovakia and just trying to avoid defeat against Russia, which would see them go through to the knockout stages.

Russia’s back line could feel a little nervy as well. Their centre backs are ageing and slow, and the prospect of 90 minutes against Gareth Bale will not fill them with confidence. Wales have found the net in eight of their last 12 games as well. However, Russia do know how to score themselves. They have scored in 12 matches in a row now, but they haven’t kept a clean sheet in any of their last five outings.

I would expect both teams to find the net on Monday, especially with the high stakes on the line and the fact that each of Russia’s last five games have seen both teams score at least once. This makes odds of 1/1 for Both Teams to Score look very good value. I think it will end all square though as Wales settle for a point, so I’m backing a 1-1 correct score prediction at 11/2 as well. Why not check out our England vs Slovakia predictions!