The shots mixed everything up: injuries to leaders change the balance of power in the RPL

In the seventh round of the Russian Premier League, two matches with the prefix "top" will take place at once. Zenit will host CSKA on Saturday, and Dynamo will play Spartak on Sunday. All these clubs, except the current champions, are experiencing serious problems with the squad. The blue-white-blue ones are not stable at the start. Therefore, fans have the right to expect unexpected results.

Who will play for the Army

The Army team did not lose any of the six championship matches, scored 12 points and are in the leadership group. But how it goes on is a big question, as there are obvious problems with the composition. Moises and Barinov were out for a long time, Akinfeev is still recovering, and Kislyak was injured in the game against Akron, and after replacing him, CSKA lost control of the center of the field.

The last week has only added to the anxiety. Having failed to hold the victory over Akron, trailing at the tail of the table (2:2), the Army team then lost in the Cup to Rostov (0:2). Gajic also left the field in the 10th minute due to injury. So now Igdisamov will have to literally scrape together the squad before one of the most difficult outings of the season.

However, Zenit itself is still far from ideal. After six rounds, Semak's team has the same 12 points, but already two defeats — against Rodina and Spartak. In the last round, the blue-white-blues only put the squeeze on the Torch in the 90+3rd minute thanks to Sobolev's penalty. Before that, they couldn't open the Voronezh defense for almost the entire match, and Diveev retired at the end and now, ironically, he will miss the meeting against his former team.

"If you do one thing well, then you can't block it."

Baltika football player Ivan Belikov — about Beveyev's outs, Talalaev's disqualification and the performance of Lugansk Dawn

But Glushenkov will return, Zenit's top scorer at the start of the season with five goals. He was really lacking against Fakel, especially when he had to pick at an opponent's low block. CSKA doesn't have such an internal resource right now: on the contrary, almost every week someone drops out.

Igdisamov really squeezed the maximum out of CSKA in the first rounds, and that's why the start turned out to be so cheerful. But now the situation has worsened due to a number of injuries to the leaders, who simply cannot be replaced. Zenit doesn't look invincible at all right now, but going to St. Petersburg may be the first match where the army simply won't have enough people to make up for the difference in the quality and length of the bench.

Will Krasnodar repeat the RPL record

Last season, the Bulls simply destroyed Krylia twice in the championship — 6:0 in Samara and 5:0 at home. This week, Krasnodar will travel to the Volga in the status of the absolute leader: six wins in six rounds. Another success will allow us to repeat the record of the Russian championships for the best start — seven consecutive wins were previously given by Rubin Berdyev in 2008 and Zenit Villas-Boas in 2014.

However, the current Krasnodar in recent matches does not look at all like a machine that grinds everyone in a row. Three rounds — three 1-0 wins, with central defender Jubal scoring the last two winning goals. In Makhachkala, the Bulls created almost nothing from the game, and they also suffered for a long time against Rostov. After the derby, Musayev bluntly admitted that in the first half the team returned the ball too often and created almost nothing. In general, the table is perfect, but football is still noticeably less convincing. He hints at a poor form and an ambiguous match with Fakel in the Cup, where the bulls won only in a penalty shootout and could not even properly control the ball.

The situation is reversed for Krylia. Samaritans started the championship pretty hard, but right now they suddenly came to life in attack: first they defeated Akron 3-0, then they played 3-3 with Akhmat. They have scored six of their eight goals in the last two rounds and definitely do not look like a team that should be taken out by one wicket again.

Cup of Contradictions: CSKA will play with unexpectedly leading Rostov

Spartak will compete with the outsider of the championship, Zenit will host Makhachkala, which does not like draws — the main intrigues of the 3rd round of the RPL

Tyukavin's return and questions about Barco

Dynamo and Spartak have a similar problem before the derby — both teams are still too dependent on individual players in attack. The blue and white beat Lokomotiv 1-0 in the last round, but without Tyukavin, they created almost nothing until the penalty in the second half. Spartak, without Barko, also did not fully control the game against Orenburg and settled for a draw. So the team spirit may be shaken after the status victory over Zenit.

The good news for Dynamo is that Tyukavin should be back. After the double to Rodina, he finally broke the scoring drought and now has to take his place in the center of the attack again. But some kind of tragicomedy is unfolding in the transfer market. Two potential newcomers at once — Gonzalo Plata and Mateus Martins — did not pass a medical examination. Schwartz was probably counting on them in the near future.

Spartak, meanwhile, hopes for the return of Barko, who has contracted a viral infection. Carcedo said bluntly after Orenburg that the team needed a "plan B" in case the Argentine was absent, because it was very difficult to fully replace him. At the same time, Litvinov definitely remains out of the game due to a knee injury, so the red and white have enough personnel issues before the derby.

There is another unpleasant moment for Spartak — VTB Arena has not been the most pleasant place for him lately. In the last championship, the red and white played 2:2 here, and in the spring they got 2:5 from Dynamo in the Cup. If we capture the previous home meeting of the blue and white, Spartak has not won a single victory in the last three official matches at this stadium.

Orenburg block: Spartak slowed down in the championship race

The red and white team could not beat the team from the middle of the table, Lokomotiv lost the second derby — the results of the 6th round of the RPL

According to the season, the red and white look more convincing and deservedly stand higher. But if Tyukavin really returned to form, and Barko does not play again, the difference between the teams will be leveled. Spartak has already shown that they can create a lot of chances without the Argentine, but they have not yet demonstrated that they can achieve results in each round without him.

The Locomotive Crisis

Back in the summer, it seemed that these teams would have completely different tasks. But we look at the table and see that Kaliningrad scored 10 points and are fifth, while the railroad workers are at the bottom with three points.

Baltika survived Andrade's departure from Borisko and quickly integrated newcomers into Talalaev's system. The organization, discipline and the ability to wait for your moment have not gone away, but going to Kaliningrad is still the hardest test for any league club.

The locomotive has frankly gone downhill. In a few months, the team lost almost its entire backbone, which brought it the bronze medal in the spring. Even worse, the very structure of the game, which Galaktionov had so carefully built up in recent years, was gone. The cup match with barely recruited Akron is generally a quiet horror. Hardly anyone understands what kind of football the red-greens play now.

The main question is who can lead the partners. Last season, Batrakov was the lifesaver: almost all the key decisions in the final third went through him. Now he is gone, and it is simply impossible to replace a player of this level in the current realities of the club.