Scotland manager Steve Clarke said there are "no free hits" as he vowed to push for maximum points in the remaining four qualifying matches.
Clarke is building towards the Nations League play-offs in March, but will not use the group matches to experiment despite being forced to add some interesting choices to his squad this time around.
The former Kilmarnock man is making the right noises in what has to be seen as an attempt to give hope to his nations' famously patriotic fans.
"Every match you go into you want to achieve the maximum, which is three points," said the Scotland boss.
"I want a good performance level, I want a good performance level in the next four matches. My belief is always that if your performance level is good enough, the points will follow."
The hosts head into the match as heavy favourites to pile further misery onto Scotland's disappointing campaign.
Their striker and captain Artem Dzyuba finds it "a little weird" that there is no optimism from that of the Tartan Army.
The marksman who scored the equaliser in Glasgow said "It's a little weird that you don't have that much faith in your team. It reminds me of the situation where Russian fans didn't have much faith in their team before the World Cup.
"Nothing terrible has happened. The loss to Kazakhstan was a bit surprising but it is a difficult place for anyone to go, partly because of the artificial pitch.
"You have excellent players playing for your side, for clubs like Liverpool and Manchester United."
Team News
No new concerns for Russia manager Stanislav Cherchesov as he continues to lead his country after a successful World Cup campaign.
The likes of Yuri Zhirkov, Aleksandr Golovin and Aleksei Ionov are expected to keep their starting places.
The away side have arrived in Moscow with the usual batch of squad withdrawals before kick off.
Steve Clarke's main decision will be to decide who leads the line, Oli McBurnie's injury means there could be a start for surprise call up Lawrence Shankland.
Mikey Devlin and Charlie Mulgrew are likely to be a new centre half pairing in dark blue.
Key Clashes
There is pressure on a number of Scottish players this time out with many of the travelling contingent expecting a performance instead of a result, A lot of this could depend of how they perform from back to front.
Scotland's back four vs Artem Dzyuba
The Zenit Saint Petersburg man has netted 21 times in just 38 caps and bullied the Scottish back line at Hampden. Russia will look to hit him from the off allowing him to bring others into play. If the likes of Andy Robertson are not at their club form best then it could be a long night.
The Russians are a test for any nation, especially with the home comfort of Moscow.
Kick off is 19:45 BST in the Luzhniki Stadium.