Khimki – Lokomotiv M

Lokomotiv players do not look weaker than Khimki even on the road

On Saturday, 20 August, Khimki will take on Lokomotiv at home. The railroaders are unbeaten in five rounds, although they do not have the most difficult calendar. The team failed to beat Nizhny Novgorod, Rostov and Krasnodar. It cannot be said that the club is progressing in terms of play. On the contrary, there is an opposite trend. The highest-quality football was in the first two rounds, when you could put the loss of points down to bad luck. In the last game against Krylia Sovetov, Lokomotiv were already lucky. Lokomotiv attacked more primitively, creating far fewer chances than their opponents. At the same time, two penalties were awarded. After the game with Krylia the club management decided to prepare for the next game at their training camp. The players were deprived of all days off. The game with Khimki will be a special experience. It is possible that a failure in this game would be fatal for Lokomotiv's German coaching team. Khimki are the most enigmatic team in RPL. With Sergei Yuran, the club have made a dream start. It has not even lost to Zenit. The management announced the coach's resignation after such successes. Unpleasant rumors appeared in the press, but the club got away with platitudes without explanation. The whole situation had a negative impact on the players. Nikolay Pisarev was appointed head coach. The specialist has never been successful at the RPL level. The management have not explained their choice in any way. As a result, the match with Akhmat was the worst in terms of the game. The club from Grozny created more chances. Khimki managed to hold on to the intrigue until the final whistle, but the regression can already be seen. Pisarev clearly has a different approach to football. The coach wants to see the club as a more attacking option, but Khimki's defense suffers. Bookmakers are giving roughly equal odds on the two squads ahead of the face-off. The two clubs are in an odd situation, but Lokomotiv look clearer before the game. The team has spent a week preparing, is full of motivation, and the players still have a relatively high level. At the very least, the difference in class between the railroaders and Khimki is big enough. Lokomotiv have a sizeable sample of their offensive line. Their key players are still injury free. There is a lot of uncertainty surrounding Khimki. If this were Juran's team, this playbook would be close to reality. Right now it's hard to know what to expect from Khimki with a new coach for whom no one has prepared. Importantly, the Moscow Region team now has obvious problems on defense. The series with conceded goals has reached three games.