Preview: Kazakhstan vs. Slovakia - prediction, team news, lineups

The nations are meeting for the second time in the space of a week, Kazakhstan having edged the first fixture by the solitary goal.

Match preview

When this group was drawn, the perception was that Slovakia were the clear favourites to progress, and that may still prove to be the case.

However, Kazakhstan hold the cards heading into this contest, Magomed Adiyev starting his reign as head coach with two wins and a draw.

That would have been three successive victories had Belarus not netted a late equaliser on Friday, cancelling out an early Abat Aymbetov effort.

Aymbetov has netted three of the team's four goals in this group, but the backline deserve as much credit as the attackers after a strong response to conceding eight versus France on November 13.

Since that drubbing, just three strikes have been shipped in six fixtures, a statistic which highlights the size of the task facing Slovakia.

To their credit, Slovakia have only lost two of their last eight matches in all competitions, and four away clean sheets have been recorded during that stint.

Stefan Tarkovic's team have also won their last three fixtures on their travels, but the 1-0 home defeat to their next opponents threatens to be the difference when it comes to promotion.

National team stalwart Vladimir Weiss netted the only goal of the game in Azerbaijan on Friday, his first international strike for exactly five years.

Each of Slovakia's last three fixtures have ended in a 1-0 scoreline, either for or against them, and everything points to this being a low-scoring encounter.

Kazakhstan Nations League form:

Kazakhstan form (all competitions):

Slovakia Nations League form:

Slovakia form (all competitions):

Team News

Kazakhstan will have to make do without captain Islambek Kuat and Ramazan Orazov through suspension and injury respectively.

Samat Zharynbetov and Bauyrzhan Baytana may take their respective places in defensive and attacking midfield positions.

Weiss collected a second yellow card of the tournament in the last game and will miss out here.

However, the playmaker had initially come off the substitutes' bench, and it creates the possibility of an unchanged team being selected by Tarkovic.

Ondrej Duda may be drafted into midfield or a creative role if Tarkovic opts to introduce some fresh legs, but Milan Skriniar is again likely to miss out through injury.

Kazakhstan possible starting lineup:

Shatskiy; Marochkin, Alip, Maliy; Kairov, Darabaev, Zharynbetov, Vorogovskiy; Baytana, Astanov; Aymbetov

Slovakia possible starting lineup:

Rodak; Pekarik, Valjent, Satka, De Marco; Suslov, Lobotka, Hrosovsky, Haraslin; Strelec, Rusnak

We say: Kazakhstan 1-1 Slovakia

Given Kazakhstan's remaining fixtures, the onus is on Slovakia to record all three points. However, we cannot ignore the form of the home side, and a surprise draw last time out will only motivate them to hold their own on Monday.

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