Rukh Brest welcome Smolevichi to the Yunost Stadium on Sunday evening looking to extend their unbeaten streak in the Belarusian top flight to six matches.
Meanwhile, despite testing BATE Borisov last weekend, Smolevichi head into the contest still looking for their first victory of the campaign.
Match preview
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With none of the 16 teams putting together a consistent run of form during the opening seven games, Rukh would have been satisfied with holding a mid-table spot after their promotion to the top flight for the first time in their history.
However, their 4-2 victory at Neman Grodno last weekend has put a different complexion on matters, with Aleksandr Sednyov's team now in eighth ahead of a home encounter with opposition who sit in the relegation zone.
Ahead of matchday nine, Rukh's only two defeats have come against first-placed BATE Borisov and fourth-placed Energetyk-BGU, an indication that they performing to a level where they will expect to make quick headway up the standings.
Nevertheless, while they have now put together a five-match unbeaten streak, their four-goal haul last weekend represents over half of their strikes for the campaign.
Four different players got on the scoresheet, leaving midfielder Pavel Sedko as the sole member of the squad to have netted more than once this season.
At a time when Rukh are on a high, Smolevichi have been left wondering when they will end their wait to get a win on the board after promotion last year.
Following the 5-3 defeat at home to BATE, Aleksandr Brazevich's are five points adrift of safety, a considerable margin even during the earlier stages of the campaign.
On a positive note, Smolevichi were holding the league leaders at 3-3 with just 10 minutes remaining, suggesting that they have the quality and belief to get back in the mix.
However, it remains to be seen how this squad will react to shipping two goals during the closing stages, taking the total to 10 being shipped during the last three outings.
Rukh Brest form: LDWDDW
Smolevichi form: LDDLLL
Head To Head
While Rukh are currently faring better in the top flight, Smolevichi came out on top in their fixtures at the second tier last season.
Although Rukh claimed a goalless draw on away soil in the most recent fixture in November, they succumbed to a 3-0 defeat when hosting Smolevichi in June.
We say: Rukh Brest 2-1 Smolevichi
When you have two teams with contrasting defensive records, there should be only one winner. However, while we expect Rukh to live up to their tag of favourites, they may have to work hard to see off opposition who are becoming increasingly motivated to end their poor run of form.
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Rukh Brest win with a probability of 41.38%. A win for Smolevichi had a probability of 31.61% and a draw had a probability of 27%.
The most likely scoreline for a Rukh Brest win was 1-0 with a probability of 11.29%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.57%) and 2-0 (7.56%). The likeliest Smolevichi win was 0-1 (9.57%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.8%). The actual scoreline of 0-0 was predicted with an 8.4% likelihood.
