Zenit’s slowed down a bit in the Premier League, dropping points against Lokomotiv and Ufa in recent 2 rounds. There were certain squad tribulations leading to unfortunate results, like the decision to bench Azmoun in the 1:1 draw against Ufa or the red card Kuzyaev had earned in the 1:1 stallment vs. Lokomotiv.

Now the reigning champions return to St.Petersburg after a short voyage across Russia. They can count in-form Malcom, who has been shining this summer and is finally starting to show glimpses of football that caught Barcelona’s attention during his time with Bordeaux.

The winger has been Zenit’s best player over the 2 mentioned draws and upon arrival from Brazilian Olympic team has given a real quality boost. Malcom is now joined by his compatriot Claudinho - who has arrived to take over the left wing. Claudinho is the 2nd biggest signing in the Premier League this summer behind Krasnodar’s Cordoba (from Hertha Berlin for 20 million EUR) and is widely expected to be an instant success for Zenit. His adaptation must go smooth as the club already has 3 Brazilians (Wendel, Malcom and Douglas Santos).

All of Zenit’s regular players are available on Thursday and they can field an optimal XI.

CSKA is in many ways going in the opposite direction to Zenit. They have made a lot of woeful managerial decisions over the past year, which kicked off with the assignment of Ivica Olic as head coach for just 4 months. With a week left before pre-season preparations, the club had a change of hearts and sacked the Croat to hand over the team to an even less experienced manager Berezutsky - who has never worked individually before.

He’s had a mish-mash start in charge, flopping in all serious tests (1-2 defeats against Lokomotiv and Dinamo), but somehow taking points against weaker opponents. There has not been a single game in 2021/22 season where CSKA would’ve left a convincing impression. Their squad is not just poor, but also desperately lacks depth.

At this stage of the campaign Zenit is superior to their opponent in every single position, from the coaching staff to on the pitch gameplay. This is also reflected in the recent H2H record, where CSKA has lost 5 of their last 6 encounters against the St. Petersburg side.

Zenit will prove too much of a test for CSKA and their young manager. So far Berezutsky has failed in both big games he’s had and this one has to be no exception.

本译文使用有道机器翻译，仅供参考：

泽尼特在俄超的表现有所放缓，在最近两轮对阵火车头和乌法的比赛中丢分。一些球队的磨难导致了不幸的结果，比如1:1战平乌法时阿兹蒙被罚下场，或者1:1战平火车头时库扎耶夫被红牌罚下。

现在卫冕冠军在俄罗斯短暂航行后返回圣彼得堡。他们可以算上状态良好的马尔科姆，他在这个夏天一直光芒四射，终于开始展示他在波尔多时引起巴塞罗那注意的足球风采。

这名边锋是泽尼特在两场平局中表现最好的球员，从巴西奥运代表队到来后，他的实力得到了真正的提升。马尔科姆现在和他的同胞克劳迪尼奥一起来到了左翼。克劳迪尼奥是这个夏天英超第二大签约球员，仅次于克拉斯诺达尔的科尔多巴(2000万欧元从柏林赫塔转会而来)，人们普遍认为他会为泽尼特带来成功。他的适应必须顺利进行，因为俱乐部已经有了3名巴西人(温德尔，马尔科姆和道格拉斯·桑托斯)。

所有泽尼特的常规球员在周四都可以上场，他们可以安排一个最佳的十一人。

CSKA在很多方面都与天顶星方向相反。在过去的一年里，他们做了很多糟糕的管理决定，首先是任命奥利奇担任主教练仅仅4个月。在离季前准备还有一周的时候，俱乐部改变了主意，解雇了克罗地亚人，把球队交给了经验更少的主教练别列祖茨基——他以前从来没有单独效力过。

他的开局很混乱，在所有严峻的考验中都失败了(1-2败给火车头和迪纳摩)，但在与较弱的对手的比赛中却得分。在2021/22赛季，中央陆军还没有一场比赛能给人留下令人信服的印象。他们的阵容不仅很差，而且极度缺乏深度。

在赛季的这个阶段，泽尼特在每个位置上都比他们的对手优越，从教练组到球场上的玩法。这也反映在最近的对战记录中，中央陆军在最近6场对圣彼得堡的比赛中输了5场。

泽尼特对中央陆军和他们的年轻教练来说将是一个巨大的考验。到目前为止，别列祖茨基在他参加的两场重要比赛中都失败了，这次也不例外