Finland visit Russia at Krestovsky Stadium, Saint Petersburg, in a huge Group B clash at Euro 2020.
Victory for Finland will see them move to within qualification for the knockout stages which can be confirmed on Thursday if Belgium defeat Denmark, whereas Russia can climb off the foot of Group B with a win.
Team News
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Finland have no fresh injury concerns to report with manager, Markku Kanerva set to name the same selection that started their opener in Denmark.
Russia also boast no fresh injury concerns to report but manager, Stanislav Cherchesov could rotate his squad following a poor display in Saturday’s defeat to Belgium.
Stat Attack
- This is Finland’s first meeting against Russia at a major tournament.
- Finland have lost all four previous clashes against Russia in all competitions (L4).
- Russia have scored three goals in each of two previous matches on their home soil against Finland and have conceded just once across both meetings.
- Each of Finland’s last three goals in all competitions have been scored by Joel Pohjanpalo, with two of his three goals coming in the first half.
- After losing 3-0 to Belgium on Saturday, Russia will be looking to avoid suffering a second consecutive match without scoring on home soil for first time since late 2010.
Prediction
With a huge win and momentum under their belt albeit in difficult circumstances, Finland can take heart from their compact counter-attacking style which successfully nullified Denmark’s dominance with a clinical winner from Pohjanpalo.
Russia meanwhile were just poor against Belgium despite an improved second half performance with a series of sloppy mistakes throughout, which simply need ironing out because Russia need to be absolutely clinical here against this tight Finnish team.
On that note, it is difficult to see a high-scoring thriller here but if Russia can get on the front foot and find the opening goal, they should go on to win this but I have a feeling that Finland might again upset the odds here.
Prediction: Finland 1-0 Russia
