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Spartak – Rangers | Russian Football News

Spartak are in crisis, the 2-1 home defeat to Ural Yekaterinburg last Sunday was the first time in their history that Spartak suffered four consecutive home league defeats. It is a defeat which virtually ends any previous faint hope of winning the league title this season with the club now a colossal 12 points behind leaders Zenit.

In Europe, things have not been much better, three Europa League games have so far yielded just two points with Spartak currently sitting bottom of their group. One feels that if Spartak are to have any chance of making the knockout rounds of the Europa League, a home victory against Steven Gerrard’s Rangers is imperative.

Tactical Analysis

Thursday’s match against Rangers could be the final match in caretaker charge of Spartak for Spaniard Raul Riancho. Russian sports daily Sport-Express states that Arsenal Tula manager, Oleg Kononov has tendered his resignation and is expected to be appointed Spartak manager imminently as the permanent successor to sacked Massimo Carrera. Kononov is not expected to take charge of Spartak in time for Thursday’s fixture, therefore, Riancho will likely set Spartak up in his preferred 4-3-3 formation which he has used in every game so far under his temporary stewardship.

Expect this to be an attack-minded 4-3-3 formation too, a complete contrast to the more defensive approach adopted by the Red-Whites in the previous match in Glasgow. As aforementioned, this game is must-win for Spartak, so I do expect them to start with a high tempo and with a positive intent from the off.

Team News

Spartak have just three injury issues, two of which are long-term, central defender Samuel Gigot is out until March with a ruptured cruciate ligament and goalkeeper Aleksandr Selikhov remains injured long term. Cape Verdean striker Ze Luis is also unlikely to feature due to a recently picked up gastric injury.

Other than this, the squad has a clean bill of health. I expect a few changes to be made to the starting eleven, especially in defence. Young right-back Nikolai Rasskazov who featured against Rangers in Glasgow could come in for Serb Marko Petkovic.

Italian central defender Salvatore Bocchetti, another who started in central defence against Rangers in Glasgow but played in a defensive midfield role against Ural could also come in in place of Ilya Kutepov who played in central defence in the defeat against Ural. This would allow Brazilian Fernando, a more natural defensive midfield player who featured against Rangers to take the defensive midfield spot vacated by Bocchetti.

One change I could foresee Spartak making is bringing in veteran Finnish international attacking midfielder Roman Eremenko in place of young Russian Spartak academy graduate Mikhail Ignatov. Ignatov has shown impressive maturity so far since debuting for an 18 year-old, however, in a big game like this considering what is at stake, I expect Spartak to go with experience and pick Eremenko. His creativity and passing could be vital in cracking a resiliant Rangers side put together by Gerrard this season.

With Ze Luis unlikely to feature due to injury, i expect Luis Adriano who grabbed a goal at the weekend against Ural to continue up front for Spartak.

Key Players

Roman Zobnin – One of the stars of the summer for Sbornaya, Zobnin remains a consistent performer for Spartak in their season of struggle so far. A versatile midfielder capable of playing either as a ball-winner in midfield and as a box-to-box player to an equally impressive level, a good performance by Zobnin will be needed if Spartak are to revive their European campaign on Thursday evening.

Georgi Dzhikiya – One of the best players in the RPL, Dzhikiya has been a rock for Spartak since signing for the club in January 2017 from Amkar Perm. The 24-year-old reads the game well from central defence and is also capable of instigating Spartak attacks by playing the ball out from the back. If Dzhikiya plays well, often so do Spartak.

Aleksandr Maksimenko – 20-year-old goalkeeper Maksimenko only debuted for Spartak this season due to an injury to normal first choice Aleksandr Selikhov who remains out injured. However, Maksimenko has impressed since being given an opportunity at Spartak recording five clean sheets in 13 games despite the chaos happening in front of him from more experienced players. He is without question Spartak’s number one keeper now and looks set for a bright future.

Predicted Line-Up

4-3-3: Maksimenko – Rasskazov, Dzhikiya, Bocchetti, Kombarov – Fernando, Zobnin, Eremenko – Tashaev, Luiz Adriano, Hanni

Prediction

With the mess Spartak are in at the moment and with Rangers an improved side this season under Gerrard, logic would point towards the Scottish side emerging victorious in Moscow. However, Rangers failed to defeat a crisis laden Spartak in Glasgow two weeks ago. Furthermore, despite the imminent appointment of Kononov by Spartak taking a little longer than expected, the players will be aware of his impending arrival at Spartak. Often with the imminent arrival of managers or in a manager’s first game, there is the traditional new manager boost.

I just have a feeling some of the Spartak players who have under-performed so far this season will rally in front of their fans in Thursday evening and will be eager to impress the incoming boss. Spartak have back to back home games in Europe and wins in both revive their chances of qualification for the knockout rounds of the Europa League. Based on all of the above factors, I am backing Spartak at home to edge a win on Thursday by a solitary goal.

Spartak 1-0 Rangers