We have rounded up the key facts and figures from matchday 22 of the Russian Premier Liga.

Zero - Zenit were emphatic 4-0 winners at home to Akhmat Grozny to extend their lead at the top of the table to five points, but it was only their second clean sheet at home in over a calendar year. Sardar Azmoun and Artem Dzyuba also extended their lead as the two top goalscorers in the RPL by both getting on the scoresheet to end up with 13 and 12 goals respectively. 

Two - Francois Kamano gave Lokomotiv the lead in the last fixture of matchday 22 at home to Sochi with his first RPL goal in 17 appearances since moving to the capital last summer. The winger took advantage of an inch-perfect through ball from Rifat Zhemaletdinov just before half time to lift a delightful chip over Soslan Dzhanaev as the Railroaders drew level with Sochi on points. After waiting almost seven months to score his first, he got his second goal for the club just 14 minutes later. 

Three - Rifat Zhemaletdinov achieved the rare feat of supplying three assists in Lokomotiv’s 3-1 win over Sochi on matchday 22. In fact, before the weekend’s fixtures, no player had managed to make more than five assists all season, and Zhemaletdinov had only had one direct goal involvement all season - a goal the match before as Lokomotiv beat Arsenal 3-0.

Three - As the title race evolves following CSKA’s shock defeat away to Arsenal Tula, further down the table the fight for Europe is getting even more intense; Sochi held onto fourth place despite making it two games without a win following their defeat to Lokomotiv, but there are just three points separating them - in the last spot for the Europa Conference League - and Rostov in ninth. 

Four - Krasnodar were ruthless in Saransk as they dispatched bottom club Tambov 4-0, and in doing so equalled the biggest away win in the RPL since they themselves beat Anzhi 5-1 on the road in September 2017. Reaching such a positive mark the game after suffering their joint-record defeat in matchday 21 against Spartak showed considerable character.

Five years and four months - Well, just under to be precise, by the time matchday 23 comes around; after Rubin Kazan’s 3-0 win away to Ufa, they equalled their longest unbeaten run since November 2015 by making it three wins from three RPL matches. Their sensational form after the winter break has catapulted them up to 37 points, level with the Europa Conference league places, and has seen them claim the scalps of second-placed Spartak and reigning champions Zenit - the latter result completing an unprecedented league double over Sergey Semak’s men.

Nine - Khimki’s remarkable unbeaten run, the longest existing one in the league, was extended to nine matches thanks to their 1-0 defeat of Rostov at home. Seven wins and two draws has seen Igor Cherevchenko’s side shoot up to within five points of the European places after languishing in the relegation zone earlier in the season. It took them 51 games to claim their previous seven wins.

129 - Artem Dzyuba scored Zenit’s third goal in their 4-0 rout of Akhmat at home this weekend, and in doing so registered his 129th goal in the RPL. Although the exact total is unremarkable in itself, it did put him joint-third in the all-time list of scorers since the end of the Soviet era alongside former Rostov, CSKA, FC Moscow, Saturn and Mordovia forward Dmitry Kirichenko. He is now just 11 behind Oleg Veretennikov, and 12 behind the outright leader Aleksandr Kerzhakov.

Photo: Vyacheslav Evdokimov/Zenit