Preview: Russia vs. Turkey - prediction, team news, lineups

Russia will be looking to make it three wins out of three in the 2020-21 UEFA Nations League when they play host to Turkey at the VTB Arena on Sunday evening.

In contrast, the visitors are winless in this season's tournament having lost to Hungary and drawn with Serbia thus far.

Match preview

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The month of September saw Russia storm to the top of the table in Group B3 as Stanislav Cherchesov witnessed his side triumph over Serbia and Hungary, notching up six goals along the way.

However, there was little to cheer about in Russia's warm-up match for October's fixtures as Sweden scraped a 2-1 victory over Cherchesov's men, with Aleksandr Sobolev coming off the bench to net a late consolation.

Of course, Cherchesov will not be overly concerned about that result with the Nations League taking priority, and promotion to League A is firmly on the cards should Russia take maximum points from these two fixtures against Turkey and Hungary.

Prior to Thursday's friendly defeat to Sweden, Cherchesov's side had won 10 of their last 11 matches, with Belgium being the only team that Russia failed to beat in their qualification group for the European Championships.

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As expected, Germany and Turkey both shuffled the pack considerably for their friendly clash, but Senol Gunes would have no doubt been satisfied to see his side come away with a share of the spoils in midweek.

Kenan Karaman ensured that Turkey travelled back from their clash with Germany with something to show for it with an equaliser four minutes into added time, while Efecan Karaca and Ozan Tufan were also on target for Gunes's side.

The Crescent-Stars will look to carry that momentum forward as they search for their first victory of the 2020-21 Nations League campaign, with Turkey suffering defeat against Hungary before playing out a goalless stalemate with Serbia in their opening two games of Group B3.

However, Turkey are now coming up against a team who they are yet to taste victory against, with Russia winning four of the six meetings between the two sides down the years, including 2-1 and 2-0 victories in the 2018-19 Nations League.

With both of these sides already qualified for next summer's Euros, fans may fondly look back on both nations' performances at the 2008 European Championships, where Russia and Turkey both enjoyed remarkable runs to reach the semi-finals.

Russia Nations League form: WW

Russia form (all competitions): WLWWWL

Turkey Nations League form: LD

Turkey form (all competitions): DDWLDD

Team News

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With several changes expected from their midweek defeat to Sweden, Sobolev will be hoping that he has given Cherchesov a selection dilemma up top following his goal on Thursday evening.

However, Artem Dzyuba is all but guaranteed to spearhead the Russia attack, while Denis Cheryshev is in line to replace the veteran Yuri Zhirkov on the left-hand side.

Georgy Dzhikiya and Guilherme will miss out again due to positive coronavirus tests, although the latter would have most likely been benched by Anton Shunin in goal anyway.

A number of changes are also expected for the visitors here, with highly-rated goalkeeper Ugurcan Cakir potentially coming in for Mert Gunok in between the sticks.

Leicester City duo Caglar Soyuncu and Cengiz Under are expected to come back into the first XI, while Mert Muldur and Zeki Celik are both vying for a start at right-back.

Hakan Calhanoglu and Burak Yilmaz were also given the night off against Germany but should return for this one.

Russia possible starting lineup:

Shunin; Fernandes, Semenov, Kutepov, Karavaev; Zobnin, Kuzyaev; Ionov, Bakaev, Cheryshev; Dzyuba

Turkey possible starting lineup:

Cakir; Celik, Soyuncu, Ayhan, Meras; Yokuslu, Tufan; Omur, Calhanoglu, Under; Yilmaz

We say: Russia 2-2 Turkey

Russia will be aiming to pick up where they left off in the Nations League, but Turkey boast a number of exciting players in their ranks and should be heading into Sunday's encounter full of confidence following their six-goal thriller with Germany. Fans could be seeing goals aplenty in this one too, but we are expecting the two sides to cancel each other out this weekend.

Top betting tip

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