Hiddink says Andrey Arshavin and Yury Zhirkov will definitely miss the match with their Alpine opponents, where victory for the Russians will see them move to within a point of current Group Four leaders Germany.

In the past, Russia have had problems in beating the minnows of European football. In 2007 Russia scraped a 1-0 win in Andorra, while Hiddink’s side were hard-pushed in Vaduz earlier in the year when they beat Lichtenstein by the same scoreline.

“In the past few years we don’t see big results in games of so-called big teams of Europe against, with all due respect, smaller teams. You don’t see a big difference in goals anymore because the smaller teams have grown. They have grown tactically. They can organize themselves well, So it’s an exception when you have big results,” the Dutchman explained.

It’s been over two years since Russia last played in St. Petersburg, and the team will get strong support with perhaps one exception. Vladimir Bystrov’s decision to rejoin his local club Zenit from bitter rivals Spartak Moscow hasn’t gone down well with some of the fans of the St. Petersburg club.

He was booed, despite scoring for Zenit last weekend, and there was a hostile reception for him when he stepped off the train.

However, Hiddink says Bystrov is coping well, and will be ready for the match with Liechtenstein.

”I think it’s a minor incident. I didn’t underestimate the provocation, but I hardly talked about it with him. I said just a few words and I can repeat them: it doesn’t need more attention after he has deeply apologized,” Guss Hiddink said.

Meanwhile, Russia’s opponents Lichtenstein have been hit by an injury crisis, with as many as seven players out. Hopes would have been high following a good showing earlier in the year, when Russia were a bit fortunate to get a 1-0 win away from home.

However, the Alpine minnows’ head coach says it will be much harder for his team away from home.

“Yes, the match in Vaduz was very close. Maybe in the last ten minutes we had a chance to grab a point, but we played with a different team in Vaduz. And I think it was also a big difference between a home and away game, especially for the Russian team. And with the team that we have tomorrow is very-very difficult to have a good result with,” Hans-Peter Zaugg, head coach of Lichtenstein, said.

Russia is the overwhelming favorite to win against the Lichtenstein side, who have only one point so far in their qualification campaign. Only a comprehensive victory for the home side will be sufficient to catch up with the Germans.