MK-Sport continues the traditional rubric, in which not only the matches of the next round of the Russian Premier League are announced, but also forecasts are given. Especially for you, we have collected all the useful information about the upcoming games in one place: from statistics of personal meetings of opponents to the total cost of players of each club. We hope that with our help it will be easier for you to understand the pre-match layouts.
Khimki (Khimki) – ARSENAL (Tula)
14.00 (hereinafter Moscow time). Khimki. Arena Khimki (capacity – 18 636 spectators)
Total player value (SI) : 22,930,000 euros / 27,000,000 euros
Chief Arbiter : Evgeny Kukulyak (Kaluga)
Head coaches: Igor Cherevchenko / Miodrag Bozovic
Leaders : Denis Glushakov / Evgeny Lutsenko
Last meeting in Khimki: 1: 0
Meeting in the first round: 0: 0
Overall balance of meetings: + 1 = 2–0, 2: 1
Khimki’s last 5 RPL matches: + 0 = 3-2, 4:10
Arsenal’s last 5 RPL matches: +1 = 1-3, 5:12
Broadcast : “Match Premier”
MK-Sport: The meetings of these rivals are rarely effective, and the indicators of the rivals in attack say that one should hardly count on a hail of goals. But the actions in defense of each of the opponents this season hint that, perhaps, the Khimki and Tula teams themselves will not score, but their rivals will for sure. The draw is not in the hands of the teams taking places in the basement of the standings, so indoor football in the performance of both clubs is unlikely to happen. Miodrag Bozovic has good statistics of personal confrontations with Khimki, but Cherevchenko, who once worked as an assistant for Miodrag, has excellent performance in coaching duels with a Montenegrin. In theory, the final score should strive for a dull zero draw, but the tournament layouts suggest that there should be no draw in Khimki, and the teams that have 1 victory for two in the last 5 rounds will be able to identify the winner.
Prediction: 1: 0
NIZHNY NOVGOROD (Nizhny Novgorod) – RUBIN (Kazan)
16.30 . Nizhny Novgorod. Nizhny Novgorod Stadium (capacity – 44,899 spectators)
SI : EUR 15,730,000 / EUR 70,750,000
Chief Arbiter: Artem Chistyakov (Azov)
Head coaches: Alexander Kerzhakov / Leonid Slutsky
Leaders : Alexey Kozlov / Khvicha Kvaratskhelia
Last meeting in Nizhny Novgorod: 0: 3 (friendly match)
First round meeting: 1: 0
Overall balance of meetings: + 1 = 0–0, 1: 0
The last 5 matches of Nizhny Novgorod in the RPL: + 0 = 1-4, 4:13
Rubin’s last 5 RPL matches : + 2 = 1-2, 7:10
Broadcast : “Match Football-1”
MK-Sport: The victory over Kazan in early October remains the last pleasant event for the team of Alexander Kerzhakov in the Premier League. Since then, Nizhny Novgorod scored only 1 point in 6 matches, and during this series the Volzhans lost only once with a slippery score (with a difference of no more than one goal). In the previous round, Nizhny interrupted a 5-mate losing streak, but the division of points at home with another return to the RPL – Wings of the Soviets – can hardly be called an acceptable result.
It is difficult to blame Rubin for the lack of play and thought, but Leonid Slutsky still fails to stabilize the team’s results. The injured players, whose absence left a strong mark in the first part of the season, are returning to the ranks, Soltmurad Bakaev and Anders Dreyer are good in the last games . If the home team try to play on a collision course with the guests, they will most likely not emerge victorious from such a shootout. If they cuddle up to their gates, they are able not to miss.
Prediction: 0: 1
“DYNAMO” (Moscow) – “UFA” (Ufa)
16.30 . Moscow. Lev Yashin Stadium “Gazprom-Arena” (capacity – 25,716 spectators)
SI: 82,230,000 euros / 17,650,000 euros
Chief Arbiter: Vladislav Bezborodov (St. Petersburg)
Head coaches: Sandro Schwartz / Alexey Stukalov
Leaders : Anton Shunin / Alexander Belenov
Last meeting in Moscow: 4: 0
First round meeting: 3: 2
Overall balance of meetings: + 9 = 4–0, 24: 7
Dynamo’s last 5 RPL matches: + 4 = 0-1, 14: 8
The last 5 matches of “Ufa” in the RPL: + 1 = 4-0, 5: 4
Broadcast : “Match Premier”
MK-Sport: It is rather difficult to understand why Dynamo continues to move up the standings. Sandro Schwartz’s team does not have an outstanding roster, even by RPL standards, and the game ideas of the coaching staff, striving for fast and vertical football, are not at all new. In many games they won, the blue and white were frankly lucky, but the ability to attract the location of Fortune is one of the main coaching skills.
In theory, the disciplined Ufa should become an unpleasant and inconvenient opponent for Muscovites. We multiply this by the factor of our field – and we get an obvious favorite of the meeting. However, you shouldn’t give 3 points to Dynamo before the starting whistle. The meeting of these rivals in the first round, when the Ufa players in the minority won back from the score 0: 2, but could not ultimately keep the draw, demonstrated that Alexei Stukalov’s team was in perfect order. In the same match, by the way, Hamid Agalarov scored his debut goals for Ufa in the RPL , currently the sole leader in the list of snipers in the Premier League and leading an absentee dispute with Artem Dzyuba for the title of the first scorer of the Russian championship.
Prediction: 2: 1
SOCHI (Sochi) – KRASNODAR (Krasnodar)
19.00. Sochi. Fisht Stadium (47 659 spectators)
NE: € 32,700,000 / € 113,250,000
Chief Arbiter: Sergey Karasev (Moscow)
Head coaches: Vladimir Fedotov / Victor Gancharenko
Leaders : Christian Noboa / Matvey Safonov
Last meeting in Sochi: 1: 1
First round meeting: 3: 0
Overall balance of meetings: + 3 = 3–2, 8: 9
The last 5 matches of Sochi in the RPL: + 2 = 1 – 2, 9: 7
The last 5 matches of Krasnodar in the RPL: + 2 = 1-2, 9: 7
Broadcast : “Match Premier”
MK-Sport: This is the third match of the opponents in the calendar year, and the southerners have never scored less than three for two before. Sochi residents lose points in the last two rounds in matches with not the most eminent opponents. If Vladimir Fedotov’s team intends to go on winter holidays as an intermediate winner of the RPL, then in the remaining matches before the break (with Krasnodar and Spartak, both at home), it is necessary to achieve maximum results.
As for the bulls, Viktor Gancharenko’s team can be called the absolute opposite of the already mentioned Dynamo. It is as difficult to give a clear answer as to why Krasnodar citizens are clearly short on points, as it is to explain the movement of blue and white in the opposite direction.
Prediction: 2: 1
