The 2020/21 Russian Premier League season continues this week and on Wednesday the 26th of August we have a match to look forward to between Lokomotiv Moscow and Akhmat Grozny.
The game will be played at the RZD Arena, with the hosts beginning the week in 4th place on 7 points and the visitors in 6th place but with the same number of points.
Lokomotiv Moscow come into the match having tasted their first defeat of the season on the weekend. Playing local rivals Spartak Moscow away from home, Lokomotiv Moscow took the lead after only 10 minutes but conceded an equaliser just after half time. Just as it seemed as though they were going to hold out for a point, Spartak Moscow scored the winning goal in the 81st minute.
That result means Lokomotiv Moscow have failed to win their last two Russian Premier League games. Having started this season with two straight victories, Lokomotiv Moscow were held to a 1-1 draw at home against Ural, scoring a late goal to take a share of the points.
Trends show Lokomotiv Moscow are difficult to beat at home and they have remained undefeated in their last 7 league matches at the RZD Arena. In addition, there have been under 2.5 goals scored in 10 of Lokomotiv Moscow's last 12 league games.
Akhmat Grozny started the new Russian Premier League campaign slowly with a 0-0 draw at Arsenal Tula. They followed that with a 2-0 defeat at Spartak Moscow and Akhmat Grozny were down near the foot of the table. However, things have changed in recent weeks and Akhmat Grozny have picked up maximum points from there two most recent league games.
There was a good 3-1 victory at home against Rotor Volgograd and on the weekend Akhmat Grozny defeated Khimki 2-1 on the road. Akhmat Grozny fell a goal behind in the match but scored two goals in quick succession in the second half before the hosts had two players sent off.
Trends show Akhmat Grozny have been struggling to score goals away from home in the Russian Premier League. They have found the back of the net in only one of their last 5 away matches but did manage to score two goals in their most recent away league game.
Team news and Lokomotiv Moscow could be without Luka Djordjevic who is recovering from a knee injury. He is the only doubt for the hosts.
Akhmat Grozny travel without the injured duo of Angel Wilker and Rizvan Utsiev. The former is expected back in action early September but Utsiev has a long term injury problem.
Both teams have seen a turnaround in results over the past week, with Lokomotiv Moscow seeing a downturn and Akhmat Grozny improving. Lokomotiv have the home advantage but this has the makings of being a tight game, which could end level with under 2.5 goals scored.