Preview: Akhmat Grozny vs. Spartak Moscow - prediction, team news, lineups

Akhmat Grozny host Spartak Moscow at Akhmat Arena in the Russian Premier League on Saturday evening.

The hosts head into this one on the back of a 2-1 win away to FC Rostov, while Spartak recorded an impressive 3-2 win away to Serie A leaders Napoli on Thursday in the UEFA Europa League.

Match preview

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Both sides sit next to each other in the Russian Premier League table with Akhmat in ninth and Spartak in 10th as just one point separates the two teams.

Akhmat will be fairly pleased with their start to the season as they look to improve on their 11th-placed finish last term, picking up 12 points in nine games so far.

The hosts have also won their last two matches in all competitions, securing victories over Kairat Moscow and Rostov respectively.

However, the win over third-tier Kairat was in the Russian Cup, while Rostov have struggled this season, sitting in 15th place.

Nonetheless, they will take the momentum heading into this one as Spartak have had a poor start to the season, considering they finished second in the league last year.

Spartak have not had the best of starts to their league campaign this year, picking up 13 points after nine games with a record of four wins, one draw and four defeats.

Rui Vitoria's side have won four points away from home this season, compared to nine at home, but will take confidence from their impressive 3-2 away victory over Napoli on Thursday thanks to a brace by Quincy Promes.

Promes had a difficult start to the campaign, missing six games due to injury, but since his return the Dutchman has scored four goals in six games as he looks to fire Spartak up the table.

The last match between the two sides ended in a 2-2 draw back in May which was played at Akhmat Arena, but Spartak won the game prior to that in a 2-0 home victory.

The visitors have a good record against Akhmat in recent times, winning four out of their last five games, with their last defeat to Akhmat coming back in 2018.

Team News

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The hosts will be without Bernard Berisha, who recently underwent surgery for a shoulder injury, but they may also be without seven others who are doubts for the game.

Darko Todorovic and Gabriel Iancu are injury doubts for Akhmat having missed the last matchday squad, while Giorgi Shelia, Miroslav Bogosavac, Anton Shvets and Khalid Kadyrov have all missed significant amounts of time due to injury.

However, they will be boosted by the return of Zoran Nizic, who missed the last match due to suspension.

Spartak have a plethora of injury concerns as they head to Grozny, with Pavel Maslov, Roman Zobnin, Georgi Melkadze and Ezequiel Ponce all out due to injury.

Ezequiel Ponce is a fresh injury issue after he was injured in their last match against Napoli and he will require surgery before he is able to return.

The visitors also have doubts about four other players in Jorrit Hendrix, Ilya Kutepov, Jordan Larsson and Nikolay Rasskazov, who all missed the last match due to injury issues.

Akhmat Grozny possible starting lineup:
Gudiev; Utsiev, Lystov, Nizic, Bystrov; Timofeev, Konovalov; Polyarus, Utkin, Kharin; Konate

Spartak Moscow possible starting lineup:
Maksimenko; Caufriez, Gigot, Dzhikiya; Moses, Litvinov, Bakaev, Umyarov, Ayrton; Promes, Sobolev

We say: Akhmat Grozny 0-2 Spartak Moscow

Spartak will be boosted by their victory over Napoli in midweek and so we are predicting them to get the win here, despite their injury issues.