Fabio Capello's Russia travel to Stockholm to face a Sweden side, in a match that may be crucial in determining who comes out on top in a tight Group G.
The former England boss, who received much criticism following a winless World Cup campaign, made a winning start in a 4-0 thrashing of group lightweights Liechtenstein, albeit needing two own goals from the visitors to consolidate the victory.
Sweden, whose first fixture ended in a 1-1 draw with Austria, thanks to Erkan Zengin cancelling out David Alaba's opening goal, may be without their main man Zlatan Ibrahimovic for Thursday's game.
The ever so reliant forward, who has found the net 50 times in 100 apperances for his country, remains a doubt after Sweden coach Erik Hamren admitted "it does not look good," regarding Ibrahimovic's fitness but added: "there's still a chance."
The PSG talisman initially ruled himself out of contention after failing to recover from a tendon injury that has forced him to miss four club matches. The injury offers a dejected outlook of the Swedes chances of picking up a good result, as unlike PSG, the Scandinavians do not possess a replacement of Edison Cavani's calibre to shoulder the burden of his absence. Ex-Bolton, now Brondby striker Johan Elmander is his most likely locum.
Past Three Meetings
Russia 2 (Pavlyuchenko, Arshavin) Sweden 0, Euro 2008 Group Stage, June 2008
Russia 1 (Kerzhakov) Sweden 1 (Ibrahimovic), Friendly, August 2002
Sweden 1 (Pettersson) Russia 0, Friendly, August 1998
Stats
Sweden have played Russia on four occasions since the break-up of the Soviet Union back in 1991, gaining the more superior record of the two teams with two wins, a draw and a loss.
Sweden’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic only has eight in his 21 Euro qualifiers, which includes four against San Marino.
There are the same amout of players in the Swedish squad who play in England as play in Sweden, with three: Sebastian Larsson, Jonas Olsson and Martin Olsson.
Alexander Kerkhakov, who has scored 28 in 86 for Russia, is the only player in their squad to have scored more than eight international goals.