Arsenal Tula – Krasnodar

Arsenal will not lose to Krasnodar in a key match of the season

On Matchday 28 of the Russian Football League, Arsenal take on Krasnodar at home. This is the match of a lifetime for Tula football. If the hosts lose, it's 99% goodbye to the RPL. Neither is a draw satisfactory. It would be desirable for Arsenal to win at least two of their three remaining matches. Krasnodar, on the other hand, have solved all their problems for the season. The team is in fifth place without internationals, but they have no claims to medals for a long time. Miodrag Bozovic's charges gave their fans hope in the game against Nizhny Novgorod. The Tulians were trailing 2-0 at the half but found the strength to make a heroic save. They finally got the game going on the attack. Arsenal have not scored two goals in one game since 6 March. Before that, it was a sad series of five defeats in six games. The only exception was a zero draw with Akhmat. The strange thing is that the Tulians are not the worst team in the league in terms of quality of performers. Arsenal signed Despotovic in the winter and the Serbian is not living up to expectations. The squad is full of quality veterans. Tkachev and Smolnikov picked up good form at the end of the season, but that is too little. There is traditionally the hope of creativity from Kangwa in attack. The team has players capable of creating goals through individual skill alone. Krasnodar are the luckiest club in the RPL in spring. Objectively, the young squad without internationals deserves compliments, but the team's points come largely through luck. In the last round against Lokomotiv Krasnodar again got three points in a not very obvious situation. Zheleznodorozhnyy blundered away several clear-cut goalscoring chances, while Krasnodar scored in the closing stages following a long-range strike from Chernikov. Prior to that, the Bulls beat Rubin in an even more bizarre match, although they went into the opponents' half of the pitch only a handful of times. Both teams played rescheduled matches in the middle of the week, but such a schedule could be fatal for the Bulls. Young players are unlikely to sustain three matches in seven days at adult level. The southerners have no depth in their squad. In Tula, the question of motivation must come to the fore. The experienced team will play at the top of the order, apply pressure and go on the attack. Krasnodar have, first of all, a tough road trip, and second, they need to play another game to the maximum. Plus, the Bulls do not have any game lined up. It's just impossible, given the huge turnover of the squad. The team has many performers who would not even establish themselves at the FNL level. All the more surprising are the quotes from bookmakers. Analysts are expecting exactly a win from Krasnodar. "The Bulls are leading the favourites for the encounter. It makes sense to play from the opposite, given the odds under 3.00 on Tula.