Rubin Kazan v Anzhi Makhachkala Betting Tip

Anzhi used to be the team famous around Europe for spending an obscene amount of money, however, it is now the turn of their opponents Rubin Kazan to go on a spending spree.

Rubin are a prime example of money not buying success, at least for now. Javi Gracia’s side were expected to make a flying start to the season after spending vast sums of money on players from Europe who impressed during the Tartars’ pre-season campaign. However, they are currently 13th in the Russian Premier League table without a win to their name and, in the likes of Amkar Perm and Arsenal Tula, it is not like they have had a difficult start to the season.

There is now huge pressure on this home match against Anzhi. If they do not win, serious questions will be asked of the price of this Rubin squad and its’ head coach, Javi Gracia – such is the volatile nature of Russian football.

Anzhi have had a mixed start to the season. They secured an impressive 0-0 draw against CSKA in the season opener before rendering that result meaningless by losing away at Amkar Perm. However, they did recover to beat newly-promoted Arsenal Tula last weekend.

This of course makes Pavel Vrba’s side quite difficult to judge as we are unsure which Anzhi side will emerge from the tunnel in Kazan on Friday.

This fixture is certainly more important for Rubin than it is for Anzhi which of course puts quite a lot of pressure on Gracia’s side. So far this season Rubin have not responded well to pressure – whether this is because the big money signings are not motivated, as has been speculated, is still to be fully decided.

On that basis I have gone with an Anzhi win, despite Rubin being the favourites with the bookies.

I just feel that the Tartars will once again crack under the pressure and Anzhi know that if they are at their best then they can secure maximum points against a Rubin side low on confidence. You can get the away win at the ridiculously good price of 51/10 with Marathon.

If you’re not that confident in Anzhi then perhaps you could go for Both Teams to Score. You would imagine Gracia’s side will take one of their chances being at home but Anzhi should be able to take advantage of a questionable Rubin defence. This bet is relatively safe and allows for the result to go either way as well as being a tidy profit-maker at 5/4.

If it just so happens that you like both of the above tips then over 2.5 goals at 79/50 is also advised. If Anzhi were to win, which really isn’t all that unlikely, and both teams score then we’re onto a full house. Given the circumstances, such an outcome really doesn’t seem unfeasible and all three selections look very worthy bets.

See tonight’s Premier League tip here.