Mancini can march Zenit St Petersburg to Russian title

1.30pm Saturday

When the 2017-18 Russian Premier League starts it will be exactly one year until the country hosts the final of the World Cup and there will be increased spotlight on the nation in the next 12 months.

Reigning champions Spartak Moscow deserved their crown last term but things fell nicely for them and going out of the Europa League in the qualifying rounds possibly made the title charge easier.

This time around Spartak will face the Champions League and a reshaped Zenit side under Roberto Mancini which should be fully capable of justifying ante-post favouritism.

Finishing third last season was a shock for Zenit but it's all change in St Petersburg and not just in the dugout where Mancini's new-look squad have enough quality to finish on top even though Kostas Manolas turned down a huge-money move to Russia from Roma.

Midfield playmaker Leonardo Paredes did make that switch and Sebastian Driussi, who scored 17 times in 29 league games for River Plate last season, arrives with the reputation as being one of the hottest properties from South America.

A job lot of Christian Noboa, Aleksandr Erokhin, Dmitri Poloz and Denis Terentev have been signed from Rostov to join a squad which already included Artem Dzyuba, Aleksandr Kokorin, Javi Garcia, Oleg Shatov and the excellent Giuliano.

CSKA Moscow are the other potential runners but they have not done enough over the summer to improve.

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2pts 6-4 Betway