FC Minsk’s ordinary start to this new Belarus top flight campaign continued on the weekend but at least they picked up a point on their travels with a 1-1 draw at fellow strugglers, Gorodeya, but this wasn’t enough to prevent the hosts from dropping down to third from bottom on the Vysshaya Liga table.
Minsk’s season started brightly enough though as the home side picked up back-to-back wins against Belshina 3-1 away from home and a 3-2 home victory over local rivals, Dinamo Minsk, earlier in the campaign, but having managed just one further victory in their subsequent six matches, the rot appears to have set in.
A 3-1 win away from home at Slavia Mozyr has been FC Minsk’s only highlight in recent weeks as they’ve also slipped to defeats against BATE, Rukh Brest and Torpedo Zhodino, while results at home have also suffered in recent times.
The aforementioned 3-2 win over rivals Dinamo Minsk gave FC Minsk the perfect start at home but they’ve since slipped to two defeats on the trot on home turf, so it looks best to avoid the win markets here - instead, all three of FC Minsk’s matches at the Stadion FK Minsk have all resulted in over 2.5 goals.
Slutsk have also experienced a dip in form in recent weeks as the visitors have failed to win any of their last 3 matches overall in the Vysshaya Liga.
They suffered back-to-back defeats against Energetyk-BGU and BATE, along with a 1-1 draw with Rukh Brest at home.
Prior to this downturn in form, Slutsk had put together a 5-match unbeaten run in the Belarus top flight which included wins against Isloch Minsk, Shakhtyor Soligorsk, Belshina and Dinamo Minsk - 3 of which came away from home.
Indeed, Slutsk have performed pretty well on their travels to date this season, winning 3 of their 4 matches but a heavy 3-0 loss at BATE last time out on the road seems to endorse the goals market here as all 4 of Slutsk’s away matches have resulted in 3 goals or more.
FC Minsk will be desperate to pull themselves away from the relegation zone while Slutsk will be looking to add to their wins on the road - goals could therefore feature here.