Malta vs Russia: Prediction and Betting Tips

Malta looking for at least a point

Being at 176th place in the FIFA world ranking, 137 places behind their opponent, Malta enter this match after being unbeaten in five competitive matches in the UEFA Nations League, League D where they finished second in their group.

Having won just five games in this century, Italian coach Devis Mangia and his team hope to do better than they did in the last World Cup qualifiers when they gained only one point.

Although Malta are on an unbeaten run, they have played weaker teams like Andorra, Latvia, and the Faroe Islands. Now it’s time to play the top teams again in which Malta don’t have a good record gaining just one point against Lithuania in the last WCQ.

Russia aiming for a winning start

After hosting the last World Cup, it’s back to qualifiers for Russia as they travel to Malta after a poor form that saw them winless in their last four competitive matches. The Russians are eyeing a third consecutive World Cup participation for the first time since the end of the Soviet era.

Russia were close to a promotion to League A after collecting eight points from their first four games. But two losses in their last two games against Turkey 3-2 and Serbia 5-0 saw them finish second in Group 3.

In their last match against Serbia where they lost 5-0, Russia conceded four goals in the first half although they had 19 goal attempts, they still couldn’t score, something they did just three times in the last four matches. 

Key points

• Malta have scored in all of their last four home matches
• Malta have never won a world cup qualifier match
• Russia have lost three of their last nine matches
• Russia have scored in three of their last four matches

Malta vs Russia Prediction

Russia will be happy to play against a weaker team in their group match opener after their last two defeats in the Nations League. Obviously, the Russians are the favorites to win this match and the bookies are paying as low as 1.11.

An interesting market for this fixture is the total match goals scored. If we look at Malta’s latest result against a strong side which is Norway we see that they lost 2-1 at home. This may mean it won’t be a very easy win for Russia, especially with their latest results.

We will back over 2.5 goals for this match.

Malta vs Russia Betting Tips

Over 2.5 total match goals 1.50 or ½ at William Hill

Goal in Both Halves 1.53 or 8/15 at William Hill