This match sees Rubin Kazan, who’ve spent a vast amount of money this summer, take on a more modest Amkar Perm side.
It has been all change at Rubin recently as they introduced both a new club President and a new manager in Javi Gracia, as well as several new signings on the playing side of things. The Tartars have so far spent nearly €30m on these new players including Carlos Zambrano and former Arsenal midfielder Alex Song on loan. With seemingly no end to Rubin’s summer spending, it will be interesting to see if all these players can gel as a squad for the new season after a disappointing 10th place finish in 2015/16.
Amkar Perm have been rather more modest than Rubin in their spending this summer but have still improved their squad, particularly up front where they have added three strikers. There are many conflicting opinions on how Amkar will do this season, with some tipping them to go down whilst others think they could achieve a record high finish.
Big-spending Rubin are obviously the favourites here and to be honest the value is not that bad at 4/5. Perhaps the bookies are not entirely convinced that the squad will gel in time for this first game. If you fancy something with a bit more of a return then go for Rubin to win and over 1.5 goals at 11/8. This might not seem the most daring bet but I am not sure Gracia’s men will record a convincing victory and therefore anything much higher is not justifiable.
Either way, if it does turn out to be a Rubin thrashing, you would still be covered on both of these bets.
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