Malcom and Wendel's samba magic wins it for Zenit

Zenit St. Petersburg 3-1 Akhmat Grozny
Saturday 11 September, Gazprom Arena

Goals: Zenit - Wendel 9', Erokhin 33', Malcom 83'; Akhmat - Konate 52'
Man of the Match: Aleksandr Erokhin (Zenit) 

Wendel wasted no time putting Zenit firmly in control, converting from Artem Dzyuba's pass inside 10 minutes. The hosts' complete dominance was confirmed just after the half-hour mark when Aleksandr Erokhin continued his electric start with his fifth goal in seven games. 

Once again, however, Zenit conceded. The champions have only managed to keep one clean sheet all season, and just after the break Mohamed Konate struck to halve the deficit. 

Either side of the visitors' strike, Brazilian forwards Malcom and Claudinho came on after late concessions were made by the Brazilian FA to not punish players held back from international duty. 

After a tricky second half in which Akhmat fought back into proceedings, it was Malcom who finally settled nerves in the final 10 minutes by curling a first-time finish into the bottom corner from a beautifully judged one-two with Artem Dzyuba. 

Zenit return to the top of the table on 17 points, while Akhmat remain eighth on nine points.

Next RPL fixtures: Saturday 18 September - Akhmat vs Krasnodar; Monday 20 September - Rubin vs Zenit.