Reigning champions CSKA Moscow will receive an early examination of their Russian Premier League title credentials when they visit Zenit St Petersburg on Saturday.
CSKA and Zenit, both winners of three league titles apiece in the last six years, have met once already this term in last month’s Super Cup final, which Zenit won 1-0.
CSKA manager Leonid Slutsky is hoping for more from his attack, which has scored just twice in three matches so far.
“In the last few games our attack hasn’t been on the same page with its target man Lacina Traore,” he said. Naijabet
“He had chances in each of our previous matches but we expect him to be more effective. I believe he’ll show his worth in the near future and I’m ready to wait for it a little longer.”
Zenit manager Mircea Lucescu, who won his first league match last week, said he expected his team to build on their solid start to the campaign.
“For me the match against CSKA is just another game in the championship that just got underway,” Lucescu told Russian media.
“Now we change the team’s style. And first of all we need the (positive) result. It raises the team’s morale and helps the footballers to play better.”
Spartak Moscow and FC Krasnodar, both level with CSKA on seven points at the top, will square off at Moscow’s Otkrytie Arena.
Massimo Carrera will make his bow as Spartak’s new manager after the Italian, who had overseen the past two matches on an interim basis, was appointed as the fulltime replacement for Dmitry Alenichev.
“I played football myself for years,” Carrera said. “And I know which words to use to motivate the players.
“But we still have a lot of work to do to reach top form. All of the matches in the Russian league are difficult and we desperately need to battle through every single encounter to avoid dropping unnecessary points.”
Krasnodar boosted their morale with a thumping 4-0 win over Albanian outfit Partizani in the first leg of their Europa League play-off ahead of their visit to the capital.
But head coach Oleg Kononov voiced concern that his team had been weakened by a series of injures, although he remained confident Krasnodar were capable of achieving a positive result in Moscow.
“We’re currently in a pickle because there are too many of our first-choice players on the injury list,” he said.
“But regardless of the situation we need to be at our best to achieve results in every match. And Saturday’s meeting with Spartak is no exception.”
