Arsenal Tula v FC Krasnodar Betting Tips

Two teams with opposite aims are involved in Sunday’s Russian Premier League late kickoff. Arsenal looking to merely survive while Krasnodar will fancy a run towards at least the Europa League spots. Only one winner here so it is all about finding value in the market.

Arsenal have dispensed with the services of Sergei Pavlov and brought in former Russian international striker Sergei Kiriakov to take the reins. To me this is an incredibly odd move. Tula have been leaking goals left, right and centre this season and have the joint second worst defensive record in the league. If they are looking for a coach to stabilise their defence thaen appointing a man who lacks any top flight experience seems strange.

The last seven years of his coaching career have seen him involved with Russia’s youth teams, first as assistant to the U21s side before being the head of the U17s. It will be interesting to see if he can handle the pressure of the top flight as well as the egos of older heads.

Tula have not won since their victory against Rubin Kazan on the opening day over two months ago and, quite frankly, I do not think Kiriakov is the man to turn it round.

Krasnodar were another team to make a strange managerial decision a few weeks ago by getting rid of Oleg Kononov in order to bring in Igor Shalimov. Chairman Sergey Galitsky is generalyl well-liked by watchers of Russian football, but this move seems a bit suspicious. Clearly something went on behind closed doors.

Having said that, the Bulls have managed to rectify their bad form since the move and have picked up maximum points from all but one of the games that they’ve contested (a  1-1 draw away at table toppers CSKA Moscow).

Even with talismanic striker and Russian Premier League top scorer Fedor Smolov injured, Krasnodar have enough firepower in the likes of Brazilian duo Ari and Joazinho to take them places.

As previously mentioned, there is only one outcome here and that is a Krasnodar win. Of course there is little value in backing the hosts to win; however, ‘Krasnodar to Win & Over 2.5 Goals’ looks a very good bet at 21/10.

Against Arsenal Tula’s incredibly poor defence and their inexperienced coach, I imagine this efficient Krasnodar team will have sufficient chances to net the three goals themselves. However, this bet allows for surprise Tula goal.

See more tips here.