Group H leaders Russia head into Tuesday's encounter against Slovakia with the opportunity to move seven points clear of their opponents.
On the back of successive draws, Slovakia welcome the 2018 World Cup hosts to Trnava aware that they can ill-afford defeat if they want to keep pace with the nations vying for a playoff spot.
Match preview
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Russia conclude their World Cup qualifying campaign with a trip to Croatia, a fixture which means that they can never afford to take their foot off the gas throughout the duration of this group.
However, with hard-fought wins over Malta and Slovenia having already been recorded, Stanislav Cherchesov will sense an opportunity to secure their place in the finals before that occasion.
Russia showed vulnerabilities in each of their recent triumphs, but they are currently the only nation in this six-team group who are showing any kind of consistency in the final third.
Artem Dzyuba already has three goals to his name, helping his side end their previous run of six matches without success in style.
Although clean sheets remain an issue for this team, Cherchesov will feel that Russia can make it three successive victories providing that their talisman maintains his current hot streak.
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At a time when Russia have gotten back on track, Slovakia have now gone three games without a win, finding themselves fortunate to avoid a shock defeat to Malta after a goalless draw in Cyprus.
Having trailed 2-0 after 20 minutes, Stefan Tarkovic will take the positives from his side battling back to earn a share of the spoils.
Nevertheless, failing to defeat two teams ranked no higher than 100th in the FIFA World Rankings is a major blow ahead of their participation at Euro 2020.
While Marek Hamsik will come back into the squad for the upcoming major tournament, Tarkovic desperately requires other members of the group to start producing their club form on the international stage.
Despite the expectation that they can only improve on Tuesday night, Slovakia have only defeated Scotland over 90 minutes in their last 10 fixtures.
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Team News
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Tarkovic will make a number of alterations to his Slovakia XI, potentially drafting in the likes of David Strelec and Robert Bozenik.
Jakub Holubek is also expected to feature at left-back, deputising for David Hancko, who sustained an injury against Malta.
Albert Rusnak may be drafted back into the starting lineup after being dropped for Saturday's fixture.
Russia midfielder Aleksei Miranchuk is in line to be handed a recall due to Aleksandr Golovin's early withdrawal versus Slovenia.
Cherchesov restricted veteran Yuri Zhirkov to 68 minutes at the weekend, possibly with the view of keeping the 37-year-old at left wing-back for this game.
Slovakia possible starting lineup:
Kuciak; Koscelnik, Valjent, Skriniar, Holubek; Hrosovsky, Kucka, Gregus; Rusnak, Bozenik, Mak
Russia possible starting lineup:
Shunin; Semenov, Dzhikiya, Kudryashov; Fernandes, Kuzyaev, Ozdoev, Miranchuk, Zhirkov; Zhemaletdinov, Dzyuba
We say: Slovakia 1-1 Russia
On current form, there is little reason for anyone to give Slovakia much of a chance on Tuesday night. However, this group of players can still match their opponents for ability, and we expect a stronger performance from the hosts in this game.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Russia win with a probability of 41.79%. A win for Slovakia had a probability of 31.55% and a draw had a probability of 26.7%.
The most likely scoreline for a Russia win was 0-1 with a probability of 10.97%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (8.68%) and 0-2 (7.52%). The likeliest Slovakia win was 1-0 (9.25%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.66%). The actual scoreline of 2-1 was predicted with a 7.3% likelihood.
