RUSSIAN FOOTBALL - NEWS

  

As something new on Russian Football News our experts will every week give you betting tips from Russian football. Before each round two of our dedicated writers will provide you with three tips each for the upcoming weekend. We give our experts €20 each week to place on their three bets. 

We kick off this new project with Andrew Flint and Toke Theilade trying to beat the bookmakers on the Russian Premier League market.

Zoran Tosic to score anytime, CSKA to win 3-1

I’m going to kick off with an ambitious punt, but one I believe is great value. Ahmed Musa to score anytime in this same bet is @16.00, but the Nigerian is still being played out of position as a number 9 at the pinnacle of the front three. Tosic is an aggressive player whose tendency to go for goal from range sees plenty of scoring opportunities, and CSKA’s style of pushing their attacking midfielders forward benefits the ego of players like the ex-Manchester United winger. Anzhi have had a shaky start with two home defeats, but have plenty of youthful attacking talent in last season’s FNL top scorer Yannick Bolli and Lorenzo Ebicilio, so have potential to nick one against CSKA’s ageing defence.

Lokomotiv and Dinamo DRAW, both teams to score

Both teams have less than secure defences, which leads me to both scoring in this Moscow derby; Veteran Corkuka in particular looked uncertain in the opening weekend with Lokomotiv’s narrow win over Mordovia, while Dinamo have minimal choice at centre back, with neither Chris Samba nor Douglas appearing in the match day squads for the first two rounds. The Railwaymen have started well on pape and will be full of confidence going forward, but Dinamo are certainly stronger opposition than winless Mordovia and Anzhi. A point would be useful for both sides at this early stage of the season, and I see them settling for a share of the spoils.

Mordovia v Ural DRAW

Simply put, these are two sides who are not proficient scorers,especially the hosts. Between them, they averaged less than a goal a game last season, and neither has a truly proven goalscorer. Admittedly Ural’s opening weekend win away at Kuban was a spectacular debut for Viktor Goncharenko as manager which points to a solid mentality, so I could see them dominating possession, but after failing to replace Fyodor Smolov they lack a cutting edge. Four points from the first three games that included facing Zenit last week is a healthy return for Ural, while a point for Mordovia would satisfy Andrey Gordeev as he rebuilds from Yuriy Semin’s impressive turnaround last season.

Zenit St. Petersburg – Terek Grozny Artem Dzyuba to score

Zenit have started  perfectly with a Super Cup victory as well as two victories in two league games, and they are already on top of the league. One of the reasons for their great season start is newly signed Artem Dzyuba, who has proved to be a great addition to the team so far. The big striker played a good match against Dinamo in week 1, and last weekend he scored his first goal Premier League for Zenit, when he opened the score against Ural. He will hope to double his number of goals, and I see good chances for this to happen.

Amkar Perm – Krylya Sovetov Draw no bet Amkar

Gadzhi Gadzhiyev’s Amkar won 2-0 away against Rubin Kazan last week, and had Aleksandr Prudnikov not received a red card after 13 minutes in the opener against Krasnodar two weeks ago they would most likely have more than three points at this moment. Amkar were the sixth strongest home team last season, and Zvezda Stadium in Perm is a very difficult place to play. Last season Amkar beat Zenit, Dinamo, Spartak and CSKA in Perm, while they drew with Lokomotiv. Krylya is without last season’s topscorer Anis Jahovic, who is injured, and I expect a low scoring and close match with Amkar as the strongest team.

Spartak Moscow – Rubin Kazan Asian: (Spartak -0.5) 

Dmitri Alenichev’s Spartak got their first victory last week with an impressive showing away against FC Krasnodar. Alenichev’s ideas are slowly, but steady, being implemented in the Spartak squad, and the morale is high. The players seem happy with Alenichev’s new ideas after the poor last season under Murat Yakin. As mentioned in the previous tip, Rubin Kazan lost at home to Amkar last season, and to make things worse key defender Salomon Kvirkvelia is suspended after he was shown off last week. Rubin Kazan played away against Sturm Graz in the Europa League yesterday, and the travel to Austria combined with an extra match in the legs is an advantage for Spartak, who is even on home field at Otkritie Arena.

Team	MP	W	D	L	F	A	G	P
1	Zenit	2	2	0	0	6	2	+4	6
2	Lokomotiv Moskva	2	2	0	0	4	1	+3	6
3	CSKA Moskva	2	2	0	0	3	0	+3	6
4	Rostov	2	1	1	0	3	2	+1	4
5	Spartak Moskva	2	1	1	0	3	2	+1	4
6	Krasnodar	2	1	0	1	1	1	+0	3
7	Ural	2	1	0	1	3	4	-1	3
8	Krylya Sovetov	2	1	0	1	1	2	-1	3
9	Amkar Perm'	2	1	0	1	2	1	+1	3
10	Terek Grozny	2	0	2	0	2	2	+0	2
11	Ufa	3	0	2	1	4	5	-1	2
12	Kuban' Krasnodar	3	0	2	1	2	4	-2	2
13	Mordovia Saransk	2	0	1	1	2	3	-1	1
14	Dinamo Moskva	2	0	1	1	3	4	-1	1
15	Anzhi	2	0	0	2	1	4	-3	0
16	Rubin Kazan'	2	0	0	2	0	3	-3	0