CSKA Moscow v Krasnodar Betting Tips

Two sides who are expected to at least make the European spots go head-to-head this Saturday. CSKA will always be towards the top of the league due to their financial muscle but Krasnodar are attempting to upset that trend by putting up a fight of their own. However, a decline in their recent form has meant that a potential title challenge is probably no longer on the cards.

Despite having an atrocious forward line (CSKA have only scored 9 goals in the league this season) Leonid Slutsky’s men are fairing pretty well and currently sit in second place. It really is the Army Men’s defence that has kept them towards the top of the table as they have only conceded two goals in seven matches. Although the Russian Premier League is quite low-scoring in general, this is still surprising given the continuous questions that get asked about the ageing CSKA back-line.

The Muscovites shocked many in the Champions League 10 days ago as they managed to recover from 2-0 down away at Bayer Leverkusen to draw 2-2. A complete surprise given the previously mentioned lack of firepower.

The current champions are going well in the league and are so far yet to lose a game this season. They heavily depend on their strong defence to pick up points as they are unable to rely on a poor set of strikers to outscore the opposition. CSKA have won their last three matches and, although they have only played one game at home this season, they do hold a 100% record at the CSKA Arena.

I think we can overlook their 2-1 Russian Cup loss away at lower division side Yenisey as Slutsky fielded a very weak squad with very few first team members playing a part.

In reality, this looks like a mighty task for Krasnodar to overcome.

Despite parting ways with former coach Oleg Kononov just days before their Europa League match away at Red Bull Salzburg, the Bulls managed to pull off a shock victory. They then followed that up with a good win at home to fellow European football contenders FC Rostov – Fedor Smolov was once again on the score-sheet in the match as he scored the winner with a last-minute penalty.

Things had looked a bit wobbly before those two consecutive victories but perhaps Krasnodar are now back on the right road and their season will kick on once more.

This good form continued with a cup victory against FNL side Spartak Nalchik, despite taking a much-changed team.

Although the Green-Blacks are a force going forward with the likes of Smolov, Ari and Joazinho, it is at the back where they sometimes struggle. Fifth-placed Krasnodar have conceded six goals this season and whilst this may not sound like many in seven games, it is worth pointing out that all the sides above them in the table, as well as a few below them, have conceded fewer goals. Caretaker manager Igor Shalimov will have to make sure his defence is on-par with his attack if they want to look at challenging at the top this season.

Despite the fact that Krasnodar are in good form, I would still expect CSKA to come out on top here. A win here would really show table-topping neighbours Spartak Moscow that they are not leaving them alone any time soon.

Having said that, I would always back Fedor Smolov to score for Krasnodar. Despite losing a bit of form recently he is always a threat, as shown against Rostov. Unfortunately there are no goalscorer markets on this match but you can sort of bet on him to score, as well as combining it with my above prediction of CSKA to win, by placing something on ‘CSKA Moscow to win and Both Teams to Score’ at a trebling 16/5. You could even hit a bigger winner on that with 888Sport’s offer of trebled odds on first bets.

If you believe in that bet then by default backing ‘Over 2.5 Goals’ also makes sense at 6/5.

Tips for Saturday’s other RPL match can be found here.