Spartak Moscow won their first Russian Premier League title for 15 years last season and are now looking for a record 22nd league success in 2017/18. Last season Spartak Moscow finished above CSKA Moscow and Zenit St Petersburg to claim the Russian title. Both CSKA and Zenit, in addition to Rubin Kazan have successfully defended the Russian Premier League title in the past 10 years, so it can be done.
In round two of the Russian league season, Spartak Moscow travel to play FC Ufa, which will be their second away match in a row at the start of the campaign.
Russia Premier Reserve League – Saturday 22th July 2017
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Draw Best Odd of: 7/2 at Ladbrokes |
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FC Ufa
Spartak MoscowFC Ufa are a new football club, having been formed in 2010. They were forced to start in the Russian third division but it didn’t take long for them to scale the league system and in 2013/14 they were promoted to the Premier League. FC Ufa have finished 12th twice.
FC Ufa Form
Under the management of Sergei Semak, FC Ufa started the 2017/18 campaign with a 1-0 win at Tosno.
Stretching back into last season, FC Ufa are now undefeated in their last 4 Russia Premier League games. They have drawn 1 and won 3 of those matches, which is a big improvement on the 8 matches prior to their run of good form, which saw FC Ufa win only once.
Home form has been very good with FC Ufa winning 6 of their last 9 games at the Neftyanik Stadium. They have scored at least 1 goal in 6 of their last 7 home games and will believe they can find the back of the net again in this one.
Spartak Moscow Form
Massimo Carrera’s team started the defence of their title with a 2-2 draw at newly promoted Dinamo Moscow.
Looking back into last season, Spartak Moscow have lost only 2 of their last 15 Russia Premier League games. However, one glance at their away form shows a team who struggle to win when on the road. Spartak Moscow have won 3 of their last 9 away league games.
There have been over 2.5 goals scored in 4 of Spartak Moscow’s last 5 away matches.
Team News
FC Ufa are likely to play in the same 3-5-2 formation which got them the 1-0 win away from home last week. This should mean a back three of Pavel Alikin, Jimmy Tabidze and Denis Tumasyan. Kehinde Fatai and Sly should continue in attack.
Spartak Moscow are without Roman Zobnin and there are doubts over Aleksandr Samedov, Luiz Adriano and Serdar Tasci. Carrera will probably stick to a 4-4-2 formation, with Quincy Promes on the right of midfield and Lorenzo Melgarejo on the left.
Top Betting Tips
Spartak Moscow come into this match as the favourites with the bookmakers priced at 8/11 with Ladbrokes but lost this fixture 3-1 last season. They have also failed to win their opening away game this season and FC Ufa make a good bet to win the game at 21/5 with Ladbrokes.
Spartak Moscow have seen over 2.5 goals in 4 of their last 5 away league games as highlighted above and there have been over 2.5 goals in 5 of the last 6 meetings between these two teams. Over 2.5 goals is on offer at 6/5 with Ladbrokes.
Fatai was FC Ufa’s top goal scorer last season and he will be looking to open his account for the season in this match. The Nigerian striker is 10/3 with Ladbrokes to score at any time.