Lokomotiv Moscow v CSKA Moscow Betting Tips

Sunday’s first Russian Premier League campaign sees a Moscow derby as title-challengers CSKA take on under-performing Lokomotiv.

Home side Lokomotiv are undoubtedly the most disappointing team in the Russian top flight this season as they sit 13th and inside the relegation playoff places.

Things were seemingly rosy during the summer for Lokomotiv as the lambasted club President Olga Smorodskaya finally left the club and the new board employed Railroaders legend Yuri Semin as manager to try and bring back the glory years that he led them to in his first spell with them.

Despite this optimism at boardroom level, there was always concern about Lokomotiv’s lack of transfer activity during the summer – particularly in the striking department where they seemingly signed misfiring Igor Portnyagin in a rush of panic.

This has of course meant that, just like the second half of last season, the Red Greens are struggling to find the back of the net. Lokomotiv only have six goals this season and only one of those has come from open play. It seems as though they badly miss Oumar Niasse who they sold to Everton (where he now sits in the reserves) last January.

There is slight retribution in the defensive department with just the eight goals conceded. However, in a conservative league such as the Russian Premier League, goals are like gold dust and if you manage to find the back of the net on a regular basis then you are pretty much guaranteed to finish near the top – just look at the likes of high-flying Krasnodar, Zenit St. Petersburg and Moscow rivals Spartak. These teams have a philosophy of attacking rather than looking to soak up pressure and it is no coincidence that they are all near the top of the table.

In spite of their flaws, Lokomotiv have not been terrible at home with just the one loss. However, three home draws against sides in the bottom five makes bad reading. If the Railroaders are to fulfill their lofty ambitions of European football any time in the near future, they need to find a goalscorer to put these lower teams to bed.

CSKA Moscow are a bit of a conundrum in Russian football. They always challenge at the top of the table as they have a good set of players, however, they do not have the financial backing to really kick on in European football and repeat their feats of 2005 when they won the UEFA Cup.

Their owner Evgeni Giner is supposedly looking to sell the club but this could be tough given the fact that he valued it at a ridiculous $1bn last year. No football club in the world is worth that, never mind CSKA Moscow.

Whilst they managed to get a draw against Monaco in the Champions League in midweek, many would argue that they should have shown more ambition at home and looked to win the game. However, when you look at the depth in the CSKA squad, it is nowhere near Champions League level. Looking at the Army Men’s bench in midweek, I would argue that a lot of English Championship clubs have a better range of substitutes than this Russian outfit.

Although they may be pretty poor in Europe, the league is the bread and butter for CSKA and they will be disappointed if they do not win a second consecutive title this year. They may currently be third but are only one point off top spot.

Even though it is a Moscow derby, going away to Lokomotiv should not be too arduous a task for CSKA. Slutsky’s side are generally quite good on the road and do not make many mistakes. They may have lost their last away match against Rostov but they had not suffered an away league defeat in 10 away matches before then – winning seven of those.

CSKA’s ageing defence is often a talking point but they should not have a problem against a slow and tepid Lokomotiv frontline.

There is only going to be one result here. Despite having poor attacking options themselves, CSKA should comfortably beat their neighbours on Sunday afternoon.

The bookies are offering good prices on a simple win at 7/4 and even better value on the ‘CSKA to Win to Nil’ market at an incredible 3/1. This will likely be a dire game but there is some good money to be made to get you through what is set to be a torturous 90 minutes for viewers.

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