Both sides started with a win in their respective opening games, but it was Slovakia’s win over Macedonia that counts for more as the former Yugoslav are considerably the strongest of the 3 underdogs in the group while Andorra (over which the Russians opened their account) is the weakest of the 3.

Still, Russia did well winning away from home, and can now enjoy the comfort of their own den and use the home advantage to top the group early, then start defending their lead.

Russia’s Kershakov will be out on suspension today, but it was Pogrebnyak who scored both their goals vs Andorra, and he is available along with Arsenal’s Arshavin and Spurs’ Pavlyuchenko. Also Zhirkov available after having served his own suspension.

Slovakia did just enough to beat Macedonia, and will be boosted by the return of Vittek. Sestak is still sidelined though, and -overall- we don’t see the visitors taking anything here, but -as usual- the odds on the home win are too poor to be backed.