Russia v Spain Betting Preview – International Friendly 14th November
The only way that Russia, the hosts of the 2018 World Cup are going to really get themselves close to getting up to speed is by testing themselves in friendlies against the top sides in the world. They go into this game on the back of a home defeat against Argentina and their chances of beating Spain don’t look great. The Spaniards romped to a 5-0 win over Costa Rica on Saturday and will look to extend their current streak of winning form.
Russia v Spain Betting Tips
There haven’t been many signs of Russia being to able impress as the host nations at the World Cup next summer. They landed a 1-0 defeat for themselves on home soil against Argentina on the weekend, with Man City’s Sergio Aguero getting the winning goal. The Russians have won just one of their last five games now and in that sequence, there has been a draw with Iran and defeats against Mexico and Portugal as well Argentina. They did participate in the Confederations Cup in the summer on home soil, and after huffing and puffing to beat New Zealand, they lost their other two group stage matches. There’s not much attacking quality there, but they can keep the score down in this one and under 2.5 goals at bet365 returns a price of 4/5.
The last time that Spain and Russia met was during the 2008 European Champions qualifiers and not too surprisingly, the Spaniards were dominant in both games there, winning 7-1 on aggregate. That extended their form to W4 D1 L0 from their five previous games against the Russians. Spain have kept a clean sheet in four of their last five fixtures against Russia and therefore Spain to win to nil at bet365 returns a price of 11/8 which looks good value. You can always go and look at both teams not to score at a price of 8/11 as well. Russia’s record in their last nine games on home soil reads W2 D3 L4 so that doesn’t suggest that they are going to be good enough to beat Spain, particularly with Spain running on a six match winning streak at the moment as well.
Spain last lost a match at the 2016 European Championships against Italy and since then they have gone and produced a brilliant W12 D3 record in all matches, both friendly and competitive. They smashed five goals past Costa Rica on the weekend with Chelsea’s Alvaro Morata on the scoreboard and he the 7/2 bet365 first goalscorer favourite for this friendly. A Spain 1-0 correct score in this fixture, considering it is just a friendly just before the return to domestic action, is a 5/1 price in the bet365 correct score market. The Spaniards haven’t conceded in any of their last four games and are likely to keep the Russians at arm’s length. This will be their last action until they face up in an international friendly against Germany in March 2018.
Russia v Spain Betting Odds
Spain 8/15, Draw 3/1, Russia 5/1
Russia v Spain Predictions
Spain to win: The Spaniards are value to win this one to nil, just because the Russians haven’t looked up to all that much really. Spain have looked in really good form this year and can extend their winning streak with a comfortable victory against next year’s World Cup hosts.
