Российская премьер-лига
News We have looked ahead to the Russian Premier Liga matchday 22 fixtures to bring you the key plot lines to watch out for.
Zenit St. Petersburg vs Arsenal Tula: Opposites clash?
Football isn’t played on paper, but if it was there would almost be no point in Arsenal turning up at the Gazprom Arena this weekend. Zenit have all the stats to give them a boost coming into this weekend; with 50 goals, they are the RPL’s highest scorers after 21 matches, and they sit atop the table three points clear of the nearest challengers having not lost in their last 10 league games. In the last calendar year, they have won all but two of their home league games, and have scored at least two goals in 13 of those 15 fixtures too.
Perhaps it depends on the piece of paper, though. Impressive as their home form undoubtedly is, they are far from infallible at the back. Last time at home in the RPL they beat Ufa 2-0 to keep their first clean sheet at home in the league since last August, while they let in two goals in three of the previous six. Last weekend the late Krylia equaliser cut their lead to three points as well.
There is no point trying to pretend that Arsenal can expect to dominate the reigning champions in their own backyard, even taking the hosts’ defensive frailties into account - not least because Arsenal themselves have the worst defensive record to hold out with. They are the only side to average over two goals against per game with 43 conceded in 21 fixtures.
What Miodrag Bozovic will probably prefer to focus on is the individual occasion rather than season-long records. The last two times these sides met, in Tula back in October and last February in the Russian Cup, Arsenal came out on top as 2-1 winners. In fact, Zenit haven’t won any of the last three competitive encounters. Much as the signs still point to a heavy Zenit win, even on paper anything is possible.
Ural Ekaterinburg vs Khimki: (Almost) last-chance saloon for Khimki?
It was back to basics for Ural after they managed to grind out a useful goalless draw last weekend at home to Akhmat Grozny. When you are fighting such intense competition to stay in the top flight, a point against a side that had won half of its games is certainly valuable, although still the lack of goals remains a worry for Igor Shalimov’s side. They remain on 13 goals scored with only nine matches left to play; no side has survived relegation in the Russian Premier Liga era scoring fewer than 18 goals.
The primary objective of course is to first of all secure top-flight status, though, and if that can be achieved by continuing the fine defensive record that has seen them concede fewer goals than league leaders Zenit and their nearest rivals Dynamo Moscow, then Ural will surely be content. Only two defeats in their last nine league games will be reassuring, but failing to claim all three points against the bottom side at home will only pile more pressure on ahead of the run-in.
For Khimki, the chances to pull themselves out of the bottom at least are already starting to run out. In most circumstances, holding a side that had qualified for Europe last summer would class as a decent result, but it also extended their winless run to 10 matches. Of their remaining fixtures after this weekend, only one is against a side currently in the relegation playoff zone - Ufa at home on matchday 27.
Can Sergey Yuran’s side afford to lose this opportunity either? Turning around a run of just one win in 19 RPL games is not going to be easy at the ground where Zenit, Lokomotiv and Sochi have all failed to win this season. Will Khimki go for broke?
CSKA Moscow vs Rubin Kazan: Pupils turned masters
The long history Leonid Slutsky has with CSKA Moscow needs little introduction, but his relationship to the Armymen’s current leadership in particular has been thrown into even sharper focus given his former and current clubs’ fortunes. The only side to have won all of their last five league matches, CSKA are flying so far this spring as they rest just three points off the Champions League places with a host of new signings taking to the RPL like ducks to water.
Aleksey and Vasily Berezutsky were Slutsky’s on-pitch lieutenants in their playing days for many years, but now they have joined forces to battle against their general. Just one goal conceded in five games from a side marshalled by two members of one of the finest defensive lines in modern Russian domestic football shouldn’t come as a surprise, perhaps, or that they have exuded such authority.
No such high life of late for their ex-manager himself though. Rubin are struggling to keep their heads above water of late, despite some impressive appearances, after losing five of their last six matches. Four of those defeats have come by a single goal too, but that is no consolation.
The first time he faced Aleksey Berezutsky as a manager he came out on top, however, in a 1-0 win in Kazan at the end of October. In fact, he has beaten his former club in the last three RPL meetings after completing the double over them with another former understudy in charge, Viktor Goncharenko. Will history repeat itself?
Dynamo Moscow vs Rostov: Can Karpin’s return derail Dynamo’s revived title bid?
Closing out the matchday is an enormous fixture for the title picture. With Zenit playing 24 hours earlier at home to Arsenal Tula, there is a very strong chance the gap will be six points when Sandro Schwarz's side take on Rostov. With only three more home fixtures remaining for them, Dynamo can ill afford to drop points at this stage if they have ambitions of running Zenit all the way to the wire.
Judging by last weekend’s rampant 4-1 thrashing of Arsenal, they are in the right frame of mind to take the game to their southern visitors, but they have only managed to win half of their last 10 home games since last August. The real question is whether they have the composure to deliver on their plans.
Valery Karpin will have different ambitions of his own after returning to the helm at Rostov last week, but no less urgent. Aided somewhat by Vitaly Lisakovich’s early red card, their 2-1 win in Kazan lifted them out of the relegation playoff zone, but they still lie only one point clear of both teams directly below them.
It was their first win in six games and gives some momentum at least. To add extra motivation, the former Spartak Moscow winger, manager and sporting director has a chance to throw a sizeable spanner in the works of his former club’s historic rivals as they close in on a best league finish in over a decade.
