Krasnodar v FC Rostov Betting Tip

Both of these teams will feel they have a good chance of making the European spots come the end of the season and so this fixture between these two rivals is vital.

Despite losing their manager Oleg Kononov just a day before, Krasnodar managed to come away with a 1-0 victory over Red Bull Salzburg in the Europa League – courtesy of a Joãozinho goal rather than the usual source of Russian international Fedor Smolov. However, after a good start to the Russian Premier League season where they were comfortably sitting at the top – prompting premature talk of a title challenge – they have slumped away and have not won since August 8.

Going up against Rostov is not the sort of match you want when you are desperate for three points.

Rostov were in European action themselves midweek and, after impressive victories over Anderlecht and Ajax, were shown that continental football is not always ups as they were battered 5-0 by German champions and one of the favourites for the competition – Bayern Munich.

The managerial merry-go-round is still in full rotation at Olimp-2 with Ivan Daniliants officially named as head coach for licensing reasons despite Dmitri Kirichenko actually being in charge of the team. All the while, former coach Kurban Berdyev lurks in the background on the youth development side of things – waiting for an opportunity elsewhere.

On the pitch things have gone okay for Rostov in the Russian Premier League. They are currently sixth in the league and managed to win their last domestic match against Terek Grozny.

This match is quite difficult to call and I am not sure who will come out on top here.

Krasnodar are the heavy favourites but they do not seem to be firing on all cylinders at the moment (in Russia at least) and surely confidence is dipping – I am not sure that changing from the meticulous Oleg Kononov was a good idea but only time will tell.

As previously mentioned, when you are looking for a win, Rostov are not the ideal team to be facing as they can be so good defensively on their day.

Rostov of course have lost a considerable number of key players this summer but I doubt they will crumble against Krasnodar here. The pressure is on Krasnodar in this one – something which really suits Rostov’s counter attacking style. I think we could be looking at a draw here which you can get at 13/5 with Ladbrokes.

See all of Sunday’s tips here.