Zenit vs Spartak on April 8: team uniforms, analytics and forecast for the 23rd round of the Russian Premier League

At 20:45 Moscow time, the match of the second round of the semifinal of the Fonbet Regions Path of the Russian Cup of the 2025/26 season will begin, in which Zenit St. Petersburg and Spartak Moscow will play. The game will take place at the Gazprom Arena stadium in St. Petersburg. The details of the latest meetings of the teams and the forecast for the upcoming game are in the Izvestia material.

Form of commands

The team from St. Petersburg is approaching the confrontation in high spirits: of the last five matches, Sergei Semak's team has won in four games. Zenit's last match took place on April 4 with Krylia Sovetov: the St. Petersburg club emerged victorious with a score of 2:1. Also among the recent victories are the match with Spartak Moscow (2:0) and Kaliningrad Baltika (1:0). Zenit also scored in the game against Dynamo Moscow: the meeting with the capital's club ended 3-1 for the Petersburgers.

The only defeat was against Orenburg. On March 8, Semak's team lost 2-1 to their opponents.

Spartak is approaching the meeting in slightly worse shape: the wards of Spanish coach Juan Carcedo have won four games and suffered only one defeat, but against current rivals from Zenit. Spartak fans remembered the team's last outings on the field with victories on April 5 in the derby with Lokomotiv with a score of 2:1 and a tense confrontation with Tolyatti Akron (4:3). The Red and white also prevailed in the games against Orenburg (2:0) and Sochi (2:3).

Come in Spanish: how Spartak beat Loko, and Cordoba scored the most important goal

What did the fans and experts remember about the 23rd round of the Russian Premier League

Game forecast

Zenit can be considered the favorite in today's match: the team from St. Petersburg occupies the second place in the RPL table, while their Moscow counterparts are only on the sixth line. Moscow fans are also upset by the recent March defeat by the St. Petersburg club.

Last year, the meetings of Spartak and Zenit became the epitome of stubborn confrontation. In July, the teams drew 2-2. On March 16, 2025, the red-and-whites were able to snatch victory in a hard struggle with the Petersburgers and finished the match with a score of 2:1. Last February, Spartak fans remembered a painful defeat in the final of the RPL Winter Cup: the meeting ended with a score of 0:3 in favor of Zenit.

The confrontation between these teams is traditionally of a principled nature. The upcoming game is likely to largely repeat the scenario of their recent meeting in the championship. Spartak has been unable to achieve victory in St. Petersburg for a long time. At the same time, Zenit is likely to limit itself to minimal changes in the squad compared to previous matches.

Expectation score: the main intrigues of the 23rd round of the RPL

Galaktionov's duel with Carcedo, Cherchesov against the national champion, Zenit will test the strength of the new coach of Krylia Sovetov

The Petersburgers have a deep bench, especially in the attacking line, so the team will come out in almost optimal composition, despite the important game against Krasnodar. The red-whites have opportunities for a positive result, but the nature of the meeting is likely to be similar to the last face-to-face game.

All important news is on the Izvestia channel in the MAX messenger.