Preview: Belshina vs. Brest - predictions, form guides, head-to-head record

Belshina welcome reigning champions Brest to the Spartak Stadium on Sunday aiming to pick up their first victory since returning to the Belarusian Premier League.

Four defeats and two draws has left Belshina bottom of the 16-team division, while opponents Brest have only fared marginally better and are down in 14th.

Match preview

Belshina earned promotion back to the top flight last season following a three-year absence, but they have started the campaign slowly and are already five points adrift of safety.

The hosts followed up a three-match losing streak to start the campaign with back-to-back 1-1 draws, only to fall to a 3-2 reverse at Slutsk last time out.

Eduard Gradoboyev's side did well to recover from two goals down to level up at 2-2, but Umar Bala Mohammed struck late on for Slutsk to deny Belshina a crucial point.

This weekend's clash already takes on huge importance for the side bottom of the division, then, with Brest the team sitting one place above the dropzone.

It has been quite the fall from grace for the visitors, having finished top of the table last season to claim their first ever Belarusian Premier League title.

After taking seven points from the first 12 on offer, they have since lost successive league games at the hands of Vitebsk and Shakhtyor Soligorsk, failing to score in both games.

No team has conceded more goals in the top flight in 2020 than Belshina, however, offering Brest a chance to finally get their campaign back on track.

As well as losing back-to-back league matches, Sergey Kovalchuk's charges were also defeated 4-2 by Shakhtyor in the domestic cup on Wednesday.

Not since June 2016 had Brest lost three in a row, and a failure to end their poor run this weekend could leave them in serious trouble at the wrong end of the table.

Belshina, whose only previous top-flight title triumph came in 2001, are winless in three home matches and will have to put that right if they are to avoid being cut adrift.

Belshina league form: LLLDDL

Brest league form: DWLWLL Brest form (all competitions): LWWLLL

Head To Head

Brest were 2-1 winners when the sides last faced off in a 2016 league clash, with Idrissa Kouyate scoring the winner that day.

Belshina are unbeaten in their last five home meetings with Brest in all competitions, though, including a 7-0 league victory in April 2014.

We say: Belshina 0-1 Brest

Brest have made a poor start to their title defence. They take on one of only two winless sides in the division this weekend, however, and we are backing them to give their season lift-off with a second away win of the campaign.