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Joey - March 2, 2018
Lokomotiv Moscow vs Spartak Moscow
Russia – Premier League
Date: Sunday, 4 March 2018
Kick-Off at 13:30 UK
Venue: RZD Arena (Moscow).
Russian Premier League gets back in action with a mouth-watering derby of the capital as the runaway leaders Lokomotiv Moscow host the defending champions Spartak Moscow in the most appealing clash of the Matchday. This match has a huge importance and it could well determine the happenings in the remaining part of the season.
The hosts could well make a major step towards the crown with a win here, while Spartak’s victory would leave the battle for the silverware wide open narrowing the gap between table-toppers and their city rivals to only five points )(not to mention the impact a result here would have on team’s confidence).
Red-Greens should come into the match in a better mood having eliminated the likes of Nice out of Europa League after clinching two wins in two legs against the French outfit. Next up for Yury Semin’s men stand Atletico Madrid and the first leg set to be played + on Thursday.
Spartak Moscow were also in action in the last 32 round of the continental competition, but they were unlucky to suffer the elimination to Spanish Athletic Bilbao (4-3 on aggregate). The main reason for the failure lied in the poor defensive display in the first leg at Otrkytiye Arena.
Overall, both teams have enjoyed a strong run of form in their recent Premier League fixtures late in 2017. Lokomotiv will come into this off the back of four straight domestic wins, while Spartak have won five on the trot in the Premier League coming into this clash.
Lokomotiv lead the head to head tie by a single win ahead of their 35th encounter with bitter city rivals.
Whilst Spartak were on a run of three wins and a draw in four H2H meetings between the two sides, the Red-Greens have come on top in their previous meeting beating city rivals in a seven-goal thriller in August last year at Otkrytiye Arena.
Each of last three H2H encounters have seen both teams on the scoreline.
We could well be in for another high-.scoring affair when these Russian heavyweights take on each other.
Both teams have a string firepower on display in the final third (which could have best been npot9iced in their Europa League clashes with Nice and Bilbao), and backing goals at both ends just has to be the 2ay to go here.
As for the outcome, draw looks to be the closest of three and we’ll shoot for it at 3.10 odds.
BTTS @ 1.90
Draw @ 3.10
