Russia vs Saudi Arabia Predictions and Betting Tips, 14 Jun 2018

Russia v Saudi Arabia Predictions for Thursday's 2018 World Cup finals group fixture at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow. The hosts of the tournament will kick off the World Cup 2018 campaign as they welcome Saudi Arabia to their opening game in which both sides will be looking to set things off in a positive manner.

Match status: 2018 World Cup Group Stages
Kick-off: Thursday 14 Jun 2018, 03:00pm GMT
Venue: Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow

Russia Team News & Form

Stanislav Cherchesov's team enter the tournament as the hosts which gives them certain advantages yet puts them under increasing pressure. It will be considered a complete failure if Russia fail to win a top-2 place allowing to advance to the final part, from far not the hardest of groups here.

In the build-up to this summer's World Cup, the Russians played at the Confederations Cup only to bow out of the group stage with just 3 points from three games. They would move on to play eight warm-up friendlies that had seen Russia win just once over South Korea, four losses to top-class sides of Argentina (1-0), Brazil (3-0), France (3-1) and Austria (1-0) while notable was only a 3-3 draw against Spain.

Saudi Arabia Team News & Form

Juan Antonio Pizzi's outfit of Saudi Arabia finished second in the Asian qualifying tournament for WC-18, one point off Japan in the leading spot. Traditionally, the team from the Middle East are often found among the weakest in international competitions but back in the 1994 World Cup, The Green Falcons were able to make it to the last 16. However, the last two World Cups came as failed campaigns for the Arabians as they couldn't get through the qualification, though.

Under the experienced Pizzi Saudi Arabia are now adapted for playing attractive football which makes them tough to break down at the back and attack with improved efficiency. In their pre-tournament friendlies - 8 have been played in 2018 - the 67th-ranked international team have won only three, the last two coming against Greece (2-0) and Algeria (2-0) in May, before falling to an Italy side 2-1 and suffering a 3-0 beating by Peru.

Teams' Potential Starting Line-ups:

Russia (4-1-4-1): Akinfeev; Kudryashov, Ignashevich, Granat, Fernandes; Zobnin; Zhirkov, Kuzyaev, Golovin, Samedov; Smolov.

Saudi Arabia (4-2-3-1): Al-Mayoof; Shahrani, Hawaswi, Hawsawi, Al-Burayk; Ateef, Faraj; Shehri, Jassam, Dawsari; Muwallad.