Krylia Sovetov – Krasnodar

Wings can also dry out a champion.

On Sunday, August 24, Krylya Sovetov will play against Krasnodar in the sixth round of the Russian Championship. The "Bulls" so far justify their status as one of the favourites of the Russian Championship. The reigning title holders have won four out of five matches and only trail Lokomotiv in the standings. Krylya Sovetov stumbled after a perfect start but can still be satisfied with their early rounds. Krasnodar predictably crushed Sochi at home in the last round – 5:1. Eduard Spertsyan contributed with three goal involvements. Unfortunately for the "Bulls", joy quickly turned to concern. A loud rumour surfaced midweek about a transfer ban for the player. Allegedly, Southampton personally intervened. The atmosphere in the club might deteriorate. There is currently uncertainty over the status of their leader. Another less noticeable problem for the southerners is the injury to Gaetan Perrin. The Frenchman just joined the club and will be out for several weeks. He will definitely not play in Samara. After five rounds, Krasnodar has the best defence in the Russian Championship. Stanislav Agkatsev has only conceded one goal from Sochi, but it's the advanced metrics that favour the club by a margin. The opponents of the "Bulls" created chances amounting to only 2.62 xG. In second place in this ranking is Dynamo Makhachkala, but they have a higher figure of 4.14. Krylya Sovetov has unexpectedly transformed under the guidance of Magomed Adiev. Initially, the forecasts were very unfavourable. Krylya faltered only in the fifth round, losing to the revived Akhmat in Grozny. However, there were questions about the refereeing decisions in that game. In particular, when the score was 0:1, a controversial penalty was awarded to the visitors – it became crucial. Adiev predictably builds a different team than the previous coach Igor Osinkin. The specialist places more emphasis on defence and counter-attacks. In terms of creativity, there are no equals to Vadim Rakov. The midfielder has scored four goals, although he did not find the net in the last two matches. In the case of Krylya, a serious factor of luck can be mentioned. The team has scored three goals more than expected according to xG. This has a significant impact over a stretch of five matches. That is, Krylya merits scrutiny – it is possible that such play as in the early rounds could soon drop the club to the bottom of the table. A match with not too many goals is anticipated. Krasnodar will have a subdued Spertsyan in Samara, while the hosts are likely to defend as a team and hope for a miracle. Such circumstances do not inspire confidence in an exciting football match. Krasnodar previously struggled in a similar away match against Orenburg, where they managed to score only one goal at the end. It is very hard to believe in four goals in such a game.