Russian Premier League: outright betting preview and tip

Starts 6pm Friday

Only six teams have won the Russian Premier League since its inception in 2001 but a new name could be up in lights at the end of this season because Krasnodar look set to deliver a serious challenge.

Defending champions Zenit St Petersburg are odds-on favourites but five teams are quoted at single figures including Krasnodar, who are 8-1 shots.

Zenit won the division by eight points last season and have decided to go with largely the same squad in 2019-20.

They were the top scorers last term with Iranian forward Sardar Azmoun and Argentinian attacker Sebastian Driussi contributing tallies of 13 and 11.

But four other teams had a better defensive record and the only addition to the rearguard is Brazilian left-back Douglas Santos, who has arrived from Hamburg.

Lokomotiv Moscow and Krasnodar finished second and third on 56 points and are making efforts to close the gap to the leaders.

The early signs are positive for Lokomotiv, who blooded new defensive signings Murilo and Dmitri Zhivoglyadov when defeating Zenit 3-2 in last Saturday's Russian Super Cup.

But Lokomotiv's summer business is not as eye-catching as Krasnodar, who have snapped up Russian international centre-back Ruslan Kambolov and Dutch international attacking midfielder Tonny Vilhena from Rubin Kazan and Feyenoord.

Adding further quality to the group is a statement of intent from Krasnodar, who impressed on domestic and European fronts last term.

Murad Musayev's side finished the Russian top flight campaign with the best goal difference (+32) and had some good moments in the Europa League, winning 2-1 at home to Sevilla in the group stage and eliminating Leverkusen in the round of 32.

Krasnodar can expect to make further strides forward but the same cannot be said of Moscow giants CSKA and Spartak.

CSKA were happy enough with Everton loanee Nikola Vlasic to sign him on a permanent deal but they haven't done enough to improve a squad who finished 13 points off the pace.

Spartak were two points further back but should score a few more goals after acquiring Argentinian striker Ezequiel Ponce from Roma.

Ponce impressed on a season-long loan at AEK Athens last season, scoring 16 league goals, but faces a step up in class.

Recommendation
Krasnodar
1pt 8-1 bet365

Follow us on Twitter

Like us on Facebook RacingPostSport