Six clean sheets in a row now for Ireland (including friendlies), but Sean St Ledger and John O'Shea are missing from the back four that played against Slovakia. Other first-teamers including Shay Given, Richard Dunne, Aiden McGeady, Kevin Doyle and Robbie Keane are carrying knocks or short of match fitness.
It is a decade since Ireland won a competitive match - home or away - against a team above them in the Fifa rankings, but perhaps on Tuesday they can get a draw, which "would not be the end of the world", according to striker Kevin Doyle.
Since beating Ireland 3-2 in Dublin last October, Dick Advocaat's Russia have struggled for goals, scoring more than once in only 1/9 matches (friendly and competitive). On Friday they scraped past Macedonia 1-0 on the artificial pitch at the Luzhniki Stadium. That was their third clean sheet in a row at home.
Apart from a 3-1 home win over Armenia all of those games have stayed Under 2.5 Goals. Ireland's last five matches (including friendlies) have been similarly low-scoring.
Under 2.5 Goals is a 1.654/6 shot, but defeat at this stage of a tight campaign could be deadly for either team (Russia are still to visit Slovakia) and this column will dare to be more specific about the result. The goalless draw is 9.417/2. In case Ireland lose any more players to injury, cover the 1-0 home win as well at 6.611/2.
Best Bet: Back Russia 1-0 @ 6.611/2 & 0-0 @ 9.417/2 in Correct Score market
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