Sergei Semak’s side shook off their 3-2 defeat against Dynamo Moscow by bouncing back last weekend against Fakel. Ivan Sergeev got Zenit up and running in the 16th minute, tapping in Matteo Cassierra’s low cross. 

The hosts survived a late VAR claim before counterattacking well deep into added time, culminating in another late goal for Gustavo Mantuan. The score finished 2-0 and Zenit sit in eighth place in these early stages of the season before today's game. 

Spartak Moscow have had a historic start to the campaign, with three league wins on the bounce, but suffered defeat in their last game away to Ural and lie in 5th. Despite Spartak leading 2-1 into the 90th minute, Andrei Yegorychev and Erik Bicfalvi took the game out of the visitors hands to see the final score at 3-2.

Guille Abascal has started to turn the Moscow sides fortune around, and part of that is the signing of Theo Bongonda. The DR Congo international has scored three times in four games since signing with the Red-and-Whites, including in the second against Ural. Quincy Promes has also been amongst the goals which is no surprise following a solid season last campaign, in which only Malcom could surpass the Dutch player for goals scored. 

Abascal has used many different formations so far this season, but one could expect Jesus Medina to be controlling the tempo in midfield. The ex-CSKA Moscow player changed city colours over the summer and found the net within the first minute of his debut in a 4-1 win against newly promoted Rubin Kazan. Alexandr Sobolev remains a big presence up top for Spartak, and provides the core backbone of this team along with Roman Zobnin in midfield and the experienced Georgi Dzhikaya at the back. 

Of the last five game between the two sides, Spartak have won just once, a 3-0 win in the Russian Cup. Zenit performed the league double over their rivals in the last campaign with a 3-2 win at the Gazprom the pick of the bunch. The game was end-to-end and it was thought the points would have been shared when Promes netted an 85th minute penalty. However, Sergeev had other ideas, finding the winner in stoppage time!

Speaking ahead of the fiery game, Semak made it clear how important the referee is in these games, saying: “The games between Zenit and Spartak are usually quite exciting and the referee must control things on the pitch.”

Despite being behind Spartak in the league standings, Semak remained calm: “it’s a different situation from normal as we did not start the season as we would have liked, but this is football”

Rodrigao and Mostovoy will miss the match through injuries, although Chistyakov may return and play a part in proceedings.

Spartak Moscow v Zenit takes place this Sunday evening, kicking off at 7.30pm. The game will be shown live in Russia on Match-TV.