Thursday night will welcome us with one of the biggest rivalries in Russian football, a game between Zenit and CSKA. There was always a fierce rivalry between the two largest cities in Russia, Moscow and Saint Petersburg. The hosts from the west of the country won the league last season, being a dominant side in the top-tier for the previous decade. Meanwhile, the guests had a poor seventh-place finish, missing European competitions by just three league points. CSKA failed to defeat Zenit on this ground since 2011, losing eight of the previous twelve duels since then against this opponent. Injuries will not be a huge concern for either team, with Zenit missing Magomed Ozdoev, while the visitors miss Georgy Schennikov, Cedric Gogoua, and Hordur Magnusson.

Men from Saint Petersburg are one of the three clubs remaining to be defeated this season. Zenit is currently second on the ladder, only a point behind the well-performing Dinamo Moscow. However, it is worth noting that Zenit played only one of its five league matches at home, playing the other four on the road. Sergei Semak's men are the league's best offensive side, scoring twelve goals, but have done a poor job defensively, as they conceded the most goals out of any top-eight team, seven times so far.

CSKA is on a four-game losing streak against Zenit. "Horses" led by Aleksei Berezutski won their last two matches, coming from a 2-0 triumph over Akhmat Grozny. CSKA did awfully in big games this season, losing both of their Moscow derbies vs. city rivals Dinamo and Spartak. That may mean something ahead of this large clash, and if everything goes as expected, I expect the hosts to win. Good luck!

周四晚上将迎来俄罗斯足球最焦点的对决之一，泽尼特和中央陆军之间的比赛。俄罗斯最大的两个城市莫斯科和圣彼得堡之间总是存在着激烈的竞争。来自该国西部的东道主上赛季赢得了联赛冠军，在过去十年中一直是顶级联赛的主导力量。与此同时，客队的第七名成绩不佳，仅以三个联赛积分的差距错过了欧洲比赛。自 2011 年以来，中央陆军未能在这方面击败泽尼特，此后在与这位对手的前 12 次对决中输掉了 8 次。伤病对两支球队来说都不是一个大问题，泽尼特错过了马戈梅德·奥兹多耶夫，而客队则错过了乔治·申尼科夫、塞德里克·戈古亚和霍杜尔·马格努森。

来自圣彼得堡的球队是本赛季剩下的三家没有输球的球队之一。泽尼特目前排名第二，仅落后表现出色的莫斯科迪纳摩一分。不过值得注意的是，泽尼特上场它的五场联赛只有一场在主场，其他四场在客场比赛。谢尔盖·塞马克 (Sergei Semak) 的球队是联盟最好的进攻方，打进了 12 个进球，但在防守方面做得很差，因为他们在所有前八名球队中失球最多，迄今为止 7 次。

中央陆军在对阵泽尼特的比赛中四连败。由 Aleksei Berezutski 带领的球队队以 2-0 战胜格罗兹尼赢得了他们的最后两场比赛。中央陆军本赛季在大型比赛中的表现非常糟糕，在对阵同城对手迪纳摩和斯巴达的莫斯科德比战中都输掉了比赛。这可能意味着在这场大型赛事之前发生了一些事情，如果一切按预期进行，我预测泽尼特获胜。祝好运！