We have gathered all the key points to look out for on matchday 18 of the Russian Premier Liga.

Zenit’s proud blue-and-white party

Dynamo Moscow will take on Zenit St. Petersburg for the 50th time in the Russian top flight this weekend, having beaten the reigning champions last time out. The 1-0 win at home back in August was a pulsating evening at the VTB Arena, but it remains a relatively rare success. Not many teams enjoy success against Zenit, but Dynamo have found pickings particularly slim in St. Petersburg. Since 2-1 victory in the first RPL season in 2002 they have managed a solitary win - they were awarded with 3-0 victory in 2014 at the Petrovsky Stadium because of the crowd trouble - and since then they have suffered their first ever relegation from the top flight. 

A win for Zenit would not only give them a 50% win record against the Muscovites, but also see them equal their record points total from league clashes in the last three decades. FC Rostov and Krylia Sovetov Samara have both conceded 89 points to the Blue-White-Sky Blues, with Dynamo next on the list on 86 points. As things stand, only Rostov have lost more often in St. Petersburg than them.

Zenit limped out of Europe altogether midweek after they had already been consigned to last place in UEFA Champions League Group F, and to add insult to injury it was their former player - Belgian midfielder Axel Witsel - who scored the winner for Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday to make it five defeats from six matches. Sergey Semak’s only consolation is that he has only one option from here on in this season - focus entirely on reclaiming a third consecutive RPL title.

Dynamo meanwhile are still on course to reach the inaugural Europa Conference League as they hold fourth place, but they are no strangers to pulling out emphatic results against the big hitters this season. A thumping 5-1 thrashing of Lokomotiv is still fresh in their minds, and although their focus will not be on the three-decade unwanted record against Zenit, it would send a serious statement to the league if they were to come away with all three points.

New and Old toppled leaders

Sochi welcome Spartak to the Fisht Olympic stadium for the second of three consecutive home games that close out their 2020 league calendar with one of the RPL’s most impressive records to defend. Vladimir Fedotov’s side have gone 14 home matches unbeaten this year, losing only their very first fixture of 2020 against Arsenal Tula back in March

It has been an impressive year for the club that only came into existence just under three years ago. They had gone into the winter break bottom of the league before Fedotov’s appointment, and since then escaped relegation before mounting an assault on the RPL table this campaign. For a few hours they went top of the table during matchday 7, but since then have dropped away somewhat to sit in mid table.

Spartak have been top for longer, but have also stumbled after reaching the summit. Although they signed off from this year at the Otkritie Arena last weekend with a morale-boosting 5-1 win over FC Tambov, they have only managed to keep one clean sheet in their last eight RPL matches, winning one of the previous four games. 

All is not lost though as they are still level on points with Zenit at the top of the table. Strangely enough they also have a stronger record on the road, where they have lost just once all season, as well as earning more points and scoring more goals than anyone else. The last time they failed to score away from home? Against Sochi…

Champions League hangover

Russian clubs’ involvement in UEFA’s premier competition is over for another season, despite there being a record three clubs in the group stage. Zenit posted their lowest-ever points total in the competition, while Lokomotiv finished bottom of their group for the third year running. Krasnodar, however, have secured passage to the Europa League after finishing third behind Chelsea and Sevilla in Group E.

The added burden to an already packed schedule - a situation exacerbated by the coronavirus-related fixture congestion - of European football has led to both Lokomotiv and Krasnodar having to reshuffle their squads somewhat to cope. Marko Nikolic only named three outfield substitutes in Munich on Wednesday night as his side bravely defended a 0-0 scoreline for just over an hour against Bayern, while Krasnodar have been forced to use six members of their academy side in Champions League matchday squads.

The results of their collective workload are unsurprising; in the 12 combined RPL fixtures following European matches, the two sides have managed to win just twice, losing eight and drawing twice. Last season Krasnodar lost six RPL games all season; this time round they have already lost seven, and five of those defeats were post-Champions League games. Lokomotiv meanwhile have equalled their five league defeats from last season, with three of them coming directly after midweek European football.

Three places and four points separate Lokomotiv in sixth and Krasnodar in ninth, with the latter rediscovering their powerful home form. Seventeen goals for Murad Musaev’s men in their last five home games are warning enough of the dangers that await Lokomotiv, who have won just once in their last 10 competitive away games.