We've rounded up the highlights of RPL matchday 2.

A goalless draw against Dynamo Moscow at the VTB Arena gave Rotor Volgograd their first point after returning to the RPL. The previous game in which Volgograd side scored points in the RPL also took place against the White-Blues in October 2004 on matchday 28. Then, at the Centralniy stadium - on the site of what is now the Volgograd Arena - their opponents also failed to score.

For the first time in his coaching career, Vadim Evseev won against Arsenal Tula. The Gunners, by the way, were one of the last teams in his playing career: the former defender played for them in the Amateur League in 2012. In March 2018, he lost 2-0 at home to Arsenal as interim head coach of Amkar Perm. In 2019, under Evseev's guidance, FC Ufa lost 2-1 at home to Arsenal in April, and 1-0 away in August, while they drew 0-0 last July. Thanks to the victory at Arsenal stadium, not only the manager's but also the team's run was broken. FC Ufa had not won in Tula since September 2016.

Two Kangwa brothers were sent off in the match between Arsenal and Ufa. For them these were the first red cards in their careers. Kings Kangwa set up Evgeny Lutsenko in the first half, and in the second scored a long-range shot with his side 3-1 down. In the 85th minute he received a second yellow card. By this point, Evans Kangwa had also earned his first warning, having come on in the 65th minute, and in added time, he was also sent off.

Three teams scored the maximum possible six points after two matchdays - the current champions Zenit, last season's runners up Lokomotiv and CSKA. Zenit are top on goal difference: they scored twice each against Rotor and Rostov without conceding. The Armymen have also scored four times, but on the second matchday let one goal in against Tambov. The Red-Greens scored three goals with two clean sheets. The teams posted a near-identical start to the 2015/16 season: after two matchdays Zenit were first, Lokomotiv were second due to goal difference with a goals record of 4-1 - like CSKA now - while the Red-Blues then had Lokomotiv's current 3-0 goal difference.

Four players scored a goal in both of the first two matchdays. First to achieve this was Christian Noboa from FC Sochi, followed by Spartak's Jordan Larsson, CSKA's Konstantin Kuchev and Railroader Aleksey Miranchuk. However, the leader of the goalscorer race is Remy Cabella, who scored a double on matchday 1 against Ufa. The Frenchman played fewer minutes across the two matches than his competitors (157), and is followed by Kuchaev (171) and Miranchuk (180), who scored in both games. Larsson and Noboa complete the top five, as they each converted a penalty.

Andreas Hinkel took charge of his fifth Spartak match in the RPL. Domenico Tedesco missed the game against Akhmat Grozny due to illness. The assistant coach masterminded his fourth victory, and  second over the Grozny club. Under Hinkel, the Red-Whites beat Akhmat in July at the Otkritie Arena thanks to three goals in the second half. In August, Spartak scored again after the break: in addition to Larsson, Ezequiel Ponce scored. Under Hinkel, Spartak also beat Arsenal (3-2) and Rubin (2-1), with his only defeat inflicted by Sochi (1-0).

Dejan Lovren had not scored for more than eight months before his debut goal for Zenit, which he got against Rostov. For Liverpool, the Croat last scored on 27 November, when he equalized in the Champions League group stage match against Napoli (1:1). Before leaving, the 2018 World Cup runner up played seven more matches for the English club in various tournaments. It took the 31-year-old defender three games to score for Zenit: he played the entire game not only against Rotor and Rostov in the RPL, but also against Lokomotiv in Russian Super Cup.

Eric Bicfalvi took the 10th penalty of his professional career. His precise shot put Ural ahead against Rubin. In the RPL, the 32-year-old Romanian scored from the spot for the fourth time, and before moving to Russia, he had scored six tries for Volyn: five times in the Ukrainian Premier League, and one more in the Ukrainian Cup.

Khimki went 16 matchdays without picking up a single point in the RPL before the draw with Sochi. Their last RPL victory came on the 15th matchday of the 2009 season, when they beat Amkar 2-0 at home. Then the Moscow region team suffered 15 consecutive defeats, and in the first match after returning to the top flight they lost to CSKA. In Sochi, Dmitry Gunko's team were winning after the first half thanks to Aleksandr Troshechkin's goal, but in the end they drew 1-1.

Arsenal captain Evgeny Lutsenko scored his 40th RPL goal when he broke the deadlock against Ufa. The 33-year-old striker has scored most of those goals for the Gunners (16). Lutsenko spent his first seasons in the RPL with Torpedo Moscow, making his debut in 2004, and scoring four times in 2005 and 2006. In the 2014/15 and 2015/16 seasons, the striker scored 12 goals for Mordovia Saransk. Before moving to Arsenal, he played at Dynamo, and in two seasons in the RPL he scored eight goals for the blue and white team.

Ilya Shkurin played 61 minutes in the match against Tambov – this is the longest game of the forward for CSKA, and in it he scored his debut goal for the Armymen. The forward, who moved to Moscow in the winter from Belarus, came on as a substitute in the 28th minute in place of Alan Dzagoev. In the 55th minute he put CSKA back in front with the score at 1-1, and at the end of the second half was replaced again. In four previous RPL matches, Shkurin also didn't make the starting line-up, and always came on during the second half.

Photo: Vyacheslav Evdokimov/Zenit St. Petersburg; Aleksandr Stupnikov/Spartak Moscow