Russia v Slovakia Betting Preview – Euro 2016, 15th June
Russia last-gasp equaliser against England in their Group B opening match will have given them a lift in confidence no doubt. They have an opportunity to turn that into four points now and keep themselves well in the running for one of the top two places in the group. Slovakia have to find a way to punch back after suffering a loss against Wales in their group opener. The games are going to get tougher now for them, but can they find the kind of response and performance that saw them take a pre-tournament friendly win over Germany?
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Russia v Slovakia Betting Tips
The Russians will be left pretty happy after having stolen a point from their opening game against England. They looked to be going out limply empty handed but then came up with an equaliser from somewhere. It wasn’t a great game for them, but in taking on their toughest opposition in the group and not having gotten beaten, then that’s something to take away from the game. The last four meetings between the Russians and Slovakians have only produced just the three goals so you aren’t going to be expecting a high scoring game in this one by any stretch of the imagine. The last two meetings have been won by a 1-0 scoreline by Russia. That’s probably a good place to start in the correct score market where a Russia 1-0 Correct Score victory will return a price of 11/2. Their top scorer through qualifying, Artem Dzyuba, can be backed at 7/4 in the anytime goalscorer market.
Russia aren’t in great winning form at all, as they have slumped to just the one victory in their last six games (D2 L3). However, they had some form against Slovakia having lost just the one of their last six against them. There have been just the six meetings in total between the two sides and Russia are on top, but only just in a W2 D3 L1 record. They met as recently as 2014 when they came together for a friendly encounter and that was won 1-0 by Russia. The most striking thing here is that the game is likely to go under 2.5 goals without too much sweat and you can go with a 4/7 quote on it doing so. It may even be one of those games where it’s worth narrowing the margin down to under 1.5 goals for a better price of 7/4. Russia haven’t conceded a goal in three of their last four games against Slovakia and that could lead your to a Russia to win to nil punt for a quote of 1/4 as well for the game.
Slovakia didn’t play a very solid 90 minutes against Wales in their Group B opener at all. This was a side who had beaten Germany 3-1 just before the Euros in a friendly and who had beaten Spain during qualification for the tournament. They looked a long way from that though as they were scrappy and didn’t string much quality together until they had scrapped out their equaliser. Then they looked much better and had Wales on the ropes a bit. Their biggest asset in the game against Russia will be their pace, because the Russians look like a tired, unadventurous, aging side. But Slovakia have to step up their game and if they do, then the Russians should be there for the taking. They may well have a say in this group yet.
Russia v Slovakia Betting Odds
Russia 29/20, Draw 11/5, Slovakia 23/10
Russia v Slovakia Predictions
The price on Russia has no appeal whatsoever for a side who looks a bit laboured to say the least. The Russians rode a lot of luck against England because they could have been finished off before half time. So look for the pace of the Slovakians to be the defining factor in this one and in a low scoring game, they may just edge it. Slovakia to win by a one goal margin.
