Competition for Leadership

Matches of ROSGOSSTRAKH Russian Football Championship MD 4 will be held on 19-22 August. The just kicked-off season is only picking up steam, but over the coming week-end we are going to have two matches, which bring together the candidates for medals.

Zenit is going to play against PFC CSKA in St.Petersburg, and Spartak is hosting Krasnodar in Moscow. The result of these games can affect seriously the teams position in the tournament table. And for these clubs it is very important not to lose points in the games against their competitors.

Other matches also are going to have a tough struggle, as not all the teams had successful start.

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Rubin – Anji
19.08.2016 19:30, Tsentralny Stadium, Kazan

Referee: Alexey Eskov (Moscow). In season 2016-2017 – 2 matches – 9 yellow cards – 1 penalty awarded
Suspended: none – none
Balance of the matches in the top division of the Russian Championship: +5=1-6 (14-15)
Last season: 2:1, 1:2

The club from Kazan was not very successful in the new season and has gained only two points over three matches. And the team of Javi Gracia got points in home matches. Only in the most recent match against Spartak the team from Kazan managed to start scoring.

In the match against Anji forward Jonathas, who was injured in the match against Spartak. “I got a small injury of the hip posterior surface, after which I was not able to continue the game. Thanks God, it is nothing serious. Now I have some treatment and everything is ok”, - Jonathas wrote in his social media.

Before the match against Rubin Anji signed contract with two new players. Brazilian defender Xandão and midfield Mohammed Rabiu. If the first one is ready to help his team in the nearest future, the latter is having some treatment course after being operated on his knee. Medical team of the club from Makhachkala mention good results of the operation and quick recovery, and hope that the player will return to the training sessions in full within two months.

It is interesting that according to statistics these teams always have uncompromising struggle. Only their first match in the Premier League had a draw 0:0, and after that fortune was with one of these teams for over 11 matches. The club from Makhachkala is a little bit more lucky so far: they have 6 wins and five failures.

Ufa – Terek
20.08.2016 14:30, Neftyanik, Ufa

Referee: Igor Fedotov (Moscow). In season 2016-2017 – 2 matches – 10 yellow cards – 2 red cards.
Suspended: none - none
Balance of the matches in the top division of the Russian Championship: +1=0-3 (2-6)
Last season: 1:4, 1:0

The club from Ufa has gained only one point and have 0:3 goal difference in the current season. So the team will do their best in order to change the situation, especially in front of their audience.

As FC Ufa CEO Shamil Gazizov said, the match against Terek can be the first one for the new player of the team - Fatay, who came from Sparta (Prague).

Terek had a failure in one match at the kick-off of the season and lost to Krasnodar with a cricket score. In two other matches the team of Rashid Rakhimov looked confident and has gained 4 points as the result. Before the match against Ufa Rodolfo trained individually. However the club doctors assured that they would do their best in order the player could return to the squad. Goalkeeper Godzyur started training after missing two matches due to his injury.

Zenit - PFC CSKA
20.08.2016 17:00, Petrovskiy, St.Petersburg

 Referee: Sergey Ivanov (Rostov-on-Don). In season 2016-2017 – 2 matches – 7 yellow cards – 2 penalties awarded
Suspended: none - none
Balance of the matches in the top division of the Russian Championship: +15=12-15 (55-52)
Last season: 2:2, 2:0

The central match of the MD will take place in St.Petersburg where Zenit of Mircea Lucescu and PFC CSKA of Leonid Slutskiy will be playing. The expectations from this game are huge, but we shall know everything on Saturday evening.

Zenit started scoring only in the previous MD. Dzyuba, the leader of Zenit's attacks, is to return to the squad only by the game against the Army team. However, the coach of Zenit told during a traditional briefing that so far the National Team of Russia forward is not ready to play 100% yet. Mircea Lucescu also asked the club administration to purchase two more Russian players, which will give the Romanian coach more options for the squad.

Leonid Slutskiy should not have any serious problems with the squad. PFC CSKA scores not much so far - only two goals over three matches, but Igor Akifeev played three matches with clean sheets.

The main news for all supporters of the Army club  - the permission for inauguration of the new CSKA Arena was received.

The statistics of the recent matches against Zenit is not for the team of Leonid Slutskiy. Over the recent 11 matches the Army team won only once and had three draws.

Rostov - Tom
20.08.2016 21:30, Olymp-2, Rostov-on-Don

Referee: Аlexander Egorov (Saransk). In season 2016-2017 – 2 matches – 7 yellow cards
Suspended: Azmoun, Gaţcan - none
Balance of the matches in the top division of the Russian Championship: +6=4-6 (24-23)
Last season: did not play

Rostov continues to play in two competitions at the same time. Last Tuesday, the team from Rostov played a very uneasy game in UEFA Champions League play-off round against Ajax. Taking into consideration not the most extensive selection of scorers, every match will be more and more difficult. Before the game against Tom defender Bastos left Rostov and moved to Lazio. So the club administration will have support the squad before the end of the registration period. Not depending on the result of the match against Ajax, the team will continue participation in European Cups. We would like to remind that Dmitry Kirichenko is acting head coach of Rostov now.

Tom in the current season has already made a surprise - a comeback draw against Lokomotiv after being 0:2 behind in Moscow. So the club from Tom will do their best in order to leave Rostov-on-Don in good spirit.

Amkar - Ural
21.08.2016 15:30, Zvezda, Perm

Referee: ALexey Nikolaev (Moscow). In season 2016-2017 – 2 matches – 6 yellow cards – 1 red card.
Suspended: none - none
Balance of the matches in the top division of the Russian Championship: +1=2-3 (4-8)
Last season: 1:3, 1:1

The Urals derby will take place in Perm, where Amkar will be hosting Ural. Both teams started the season quite well and this match is to become very interesting.

Amkar won one match at home 2:0 and twice made a draw away - 0:0.  By the way, Amkar as well as PFC CSKA has not conceded a single goal so far.

Ural had only one failure at the kick-off of the season, but has already gained 4 points. The team shows interesting football, the only thing they have to improve is attack.

Spartak - Krasnodar
21.08.2016 18:00, Otkrytie Arena, Moscow

 Referee: Vladislav Bezborodov (St.Petersburg). In season 2016-2017 – 2 matches – 10 yellow cards – 2 red cards – 1 penalty awarded
Suspended: none - none
Balance of the matches in the top division of the Russian Championship: +7=0-3 (19-17)
Last season: 1:0, 3:2

Leaders of ROSGOSSTRAKH Russian Football Championship are going to meet in Moscow at Otkrytie Arena - Spartak and Krasnodar. This match attracts a high interest, as both teams has already scored 14 goals!

Spartak has a new head coach. Media was sure that the Red-Whites will get Kurban Berdyev, but the negotiations resulted in nothing. As the result, the club Board of Directors took a decision to approve the team coach Massimo Carrera, who does not have a lot of experience in working on the position of the head coach. The team still may have some new players to those positions, which get a lot of critisism, before the registration period is over.

We shall follow Carrera's career in Spartak during the season.

Krasnodar has much more problems. But they are related not to the coaches and staff, but to the player. Mamaev, Wanderson, Izmaylov and Laborde left the squad for a long period due to their  injuries. Their absence will bring a lot of trouble to Oleg Kononov. But Smolov picked up the steam: he has already scored five goals to the opponents and he managed to score in every match.

It is interesting to know that speaking about all matches between these teams in the Premier League, none of them ended in a draw.

Lokomotiv - Krylia Sovetov
21.08.2016 20:30, Lokomotiv, Moscow

Referee: Kirill Levnikov (St.Petersburg). In season 2016-2017 – 2 matches – 2 yellow cards.
Suspended: Pejcinovic - none
Balance of the matches in the top division of the Russian Championship: +25=9-10 (61-34)
Last season: 2:0, 0:0

Lokomotiv Moscow has got a new Sports Director - Igor Korneev, and Zaur Khapov and Dmitry Loskov joined the coaching staff of the team.

«I returned to Lokomotiv, where I had spent almost all my career, - Dmitry Loskov said in his interview to the Press Service. - It can be compared to returning home to family and friends. Of course, all this time I was close to the team: attended matches, training sessions, kept in touch with players. My son goes to Lokomotiv Academy, and I often come to Cherkizovo. But invitation to the staff is a special and happy moment for me, which will always be in my memory. I am grateful to the trust of the club administration. This invitation is their common will».

At the official website of Lokomotiv Loskov invited supporters to return to the stadium tribunes and to support their team.

A friendly game between supporters of Lokomotiv and Krylia Sovetov will take place at Indoor Hall of Lokomotiv on 21 August. It will be made to support head coach of Samara team in the mid 1990s Alexander Averyanov, who is seriously ill and needs an operation.

Arsenal - Orenburg
22.08.2016 19:30, Arsenal, Tula

Referee: Mikhail  Vilkov (Nizhny Novgorod). In seaso 2016-2017 – 2 matches – 6 yellow cards – 1 red card.
Suspended: none - none
Last season: did not play

In the wrap up match the two clubs which came from FNL are going to play. Last season Orenburg beat its current opponent with a cricket score twice, but the teams squads has got a lot of changes since that time.

Arsenal started the season with more success, it won once over three matches. However, they have problems with scoring - one goal scored so far is not a good index.

Orenburg has even more problems with goals. The team gained the first point in the RFPL in the match of the previous MD, but they still have not scored anything in the Premier League

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