Krasnodar vs Kuban

After three rounds played, Krasnodar has only one victory, a draw and a loss, not a perfect start they wanted early in the season. After a victory over Amkar in season opener, team lost at home narrowly with a 1:0 result to Spartak Moscow, result that left some open wounds in their locker room. The game itself was quite balanced and the draw would have been much more fairer outcome of that derby game.

After that game, team went to Rostov and got a point only in a goalless draw, but a bit more important than the early start of Russian Premier League, was their participation in Europa League qualifiers where the team played in third qualifying round against Slovan Bratislava and progressed with a 5:3 aggregate score. After a 2:0 victory in the first leg, they took a 3:3 draw last Thursday and generally had no problems securing the play-off ticket as the team had double lead in Bratislava already after eleven minutes of the game. So, no doubt that the team was having a busy schedule in previous weeks and will benefit from the Europa League break this mid-week. Coach Oleg Kononov won’t be able to count at offensive midfielder Joazinho who is struggling with injury for some time already and didn’t perform this season. This means the coach is actually available to select his best starting eleven for this one.



Kuban, on the other side, has only two points in first three rounds and it seems it’s the best the team could get so far in the season. Worrying is that the team probably had the easiest possible schedule in first three rounds. Most recently, they had only a home draw against UFA last weekend, once again showing many defensive weaknesses but also quite poor performance regarding attacking phase of the game and final touch.

Despite quite respectable movements during the transfer window when the team brought Arshavin and Pavlyuchenko, they are for now failing to show anything impressive and in case the team continues in the same manner, they will for sure be one of relegation candidates, or at least deep into the relegation battle. Kuban isn’t doing well in front of opponent’s fans, as the team has their latest victory on the road during November 2014, staying without away three points in last nine matches on the road. Former Russian star Arshavin was back in training during the midweek and he is set to play from the start. Only injury worry for the visiting team is midfielder Charles Kabore who anyway didn’t play a single minute in the new season.
Kuban Krasnodar have failed to win their last 9 away matches in Premier League.

Krasnodar is surely more quality side after completing third Europa League qualifiers successfully, I expect them to enter this game a bit more relaxed, fully determined to get all three points in a local derby. Kuban didn’t show many impressive things in first three rounds, playing against weaker sides and I don’t see them staying competitive here for too long.
Bet: Krasnodar Wins @ 1.80