Retirement game: will Stankovic retain his post after the meeting with Zenit

In the upcoming fifth round of the Russian Football Championship, we are waiting for two top matches in terms of status. Spartak Moscow will host Zenit St. Petersburg, and Dynamo Moscow is waiting for the derby with CSKA. Meanwhile, formally, the central game can be called the confrontation between the fifth Kaliningrad "Baltic" and the leading Moscow "Locomotive".

Spartak – Zenit

Few people expected that the two richest clubs of the RPL after four rounds of the championship would be far from the leader. They scored only one victory in the tournament in the opening round. Since then, they have been on a losing streak. Zenit scored five points and is in eighth place. Spartak is only 11th with four points. The gap from the first place is already seven and eight points, respectively.

Zenit won the opening two matches of the Russian Cup group stage. And Spartak has problems there too. He started this tournament with an away win over Rostov (2:0), but this week he lost at home to Dynamo Makhachkala — 1:1 in regular time, 3:4 on penalties. Rumors about the resignation of red and white head coach Dejan Stankovic are getting stronger every day. The upcoming match will answer many questions about the prospects of the teams. The winner will have a chance to catch up with the leaders. The one who loses points will get even more stuck in the middle of the table.

— It seems to me that Spartak looks like the favorite of this match simply because few people expect any achievements from it, - Andrey Chervichenko, the former owner of the red and white, shared his opinion with Izvestia. — It seems to me that most, except for the most inveterate fans, gave up on the team this season against the background of all its failures, Stankovic's nervousness and other problems. Zenit, although it is only one point ahead of Spartak and also has big problems, is still perceived as a contender for the championship. They expect him to win the next match without fail and begin to recoup the gap from the leaders. Otherwise, in case of defeat, the distance to the "Locomotive" may grow to 10 points. So Spartak's players should be more relaxed and either succeed due to their emotional attitude or fail badly.

Trud Batrakov: how a young midfielder helped Loko win against Spartak

The Railwaymen continue to lead the RPL without losing points, Cherchesov made his debut in Grozny with a victory over Zenit

Dynamo (Moscow) – CSKA

Dynamo Moscow is just as disappointing at the start of the season as Zenit and Spartak. The blue and white team scored five points and are on a par with the St. Petersburg club. They also won only one match in the league, and this week they scored a home defeat against Krasnodar (0-4) in the National Cup. However, Dynamo's problems can be attributed to the epidemic of injuries, as well as the restructuring of the game, which was started by the new head coach of the team, Valery Karpin.

It was easier for CSKA. In June, after winning the Russian Cup and winning bronze medals at the Army Championship, head coach Marko Nikolic unexpectedly left the team and joined the Greek AEK.

The red and blue team urgently found Swiss specialist Fabio Celestini, who won the national championship with Basel in his country last season. He got off to a successful start at CSKA, winning the Russian Super Cup, followed by two draws and two championship wins. The team is currently fourth, four points behind the leading Loko.

— Dynamo did not start the season very well — this was caused by the restructuring in the game that Karpin started, — said Sergey Silkin, former head coach of the blue and white team, in a conversation with Izvestia. — Because of this, the team is shaking, right up to such moments as a home defeat in the Cup from Krasnodar. While the players cannot find a common language with the new coach, they do not fully understand his requirements. It takes time for them to get used to each other — six months or a year, although maybe now a couple of wins will happen and Dynamo will catch the courage that will help them rise in the table earlier. In this sense, success is also possible in the derby with CSKA. The match will be unpredictable, as both teams will try to play for victory, as determined as possible. Their teams are equal in potential, so a lot depends on luck, mistakes and the realization of moments. All this was on the side of the Army team last season, although before that Dynamo often achieved success in equal games with CSKA. The army men look less balanced now than they did under Nikolic. But, as their wins at the start show, there is still enough class to go to the top of the table. Time will tell if he will be enough for the Dynamo derby.

Fight with the bulls: will Dynamo take revenge on Krasnodar

The blue and white team will host the current champion in the Russian Cup.

Baltika – Lokomotiv

Oddly enough, this match can be called central in terms of the current positions of the teams. Lokomotiv remains the last participant in the championship without losing a single point in this tournament. The Railwaymen won four out of four matches, including an away game against the reigning champion Krasnodar (2:1).

In many ways, the success of Mikhail Galaktionov's team is based on the performance of their main star, young midfielder Alexei Batrakov, who dragged the team last season, and now performs effective actions in every match.

Baltika only returned to the RPL after a year in the first league, but immediately began to steadily gain points. First, there was a successful double trip to Moscow, when Andrei Talalaev's team drew with Dynamo (1:1), and then defeated Spartak (3:0). Then there was a difficult home victory over Orenburg (3:2) and an away draw with another sensation of the first rounds — Samara Wings of the Soviets (1:1), who are in third place with eight points. Baltika scored the same amount, coming fifth, behind Krylia and CSKA only in terms of additional indicators.

In the middle of this week, Loko and Baltika already played each other in Moscow in the Russian Cup. The Railwaymen won 2-0, but it was not easy for them to defeat the less than optimal opponent.

"Lokomotiv is facing a very difficult match, a kind of test of its ability to hold a leading position over a long distance," Nikolai Naumov, former president of the Railwaymen, told Izvestia. — Baltika is a very tough opponent, Talalaev has built a fighting team that can take points away from anyone. We saw this in the last cup match, where Loko played well in the first half, but in the second Kaliningrad team created big problems for him. Galaktionov's team, although in the lead, does not have a large margin of safety — even a crushing victory over Sochi (3:0) in the first round of the championship was difficult for it. Sometimes there are the same defensive mistakes that happened last season, although there are fewer of them. So Lokomotiv may well lose points in Kaliningrad. And if he wins, then with a difference of no more than one goal.

There will also be five more matches in the upcoming round. Akhmat Grozny will host Krylia Sovetov Samara, Akron Togliatti will face Orenburg, Rubin Kazan will play Rostov at home, Krasnodar will take the field against Sochi at home, and Pari Nizhny Novgorod will try to score first in the championship. points based on the results of the game with Dynamo Makhachkala.