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Photo Credit: http://otkritiearena.ru
1. Spartak’s goalkeeper Artiom Rebrov is leading in saves in Russia’s Premier League after Round 5.
With 32 saves in critical matches, including in the derby against rivals CSKA, he tops the table and has been invited to join Russia’s international squad as the third goalie in the upcoming Euro 2016 qualifiers.
Many are now questioning Akinfeyev’s role as the undeniable leader in the net after two fatal slips back in Brazil.
Zenit St Petersburg’s Yury Lodigyn is trailing behind, with 50 percent less saves – he’s helped the blue side 20 times.
2. Spartak has been nominated for the rudest team after five rounds, with the red side players getting 19 bookings and 1 red card (Sergey Parshivlyuk was sent off in the clash against CSKA).
The most polite team has proven to be Zenit St Petersburg, with only 5 bookings.
In terms of fouls, Lokomotiv Moscow players lead the Premier League, with 106 rules breaches while Zenit is again at the bottom, with only 61 fouls.
3. Spartak’s rising star Artiom Dzyuba is the top scorer of the championship, with 6 goals, followed by Hulk (5), Rondon (4), both from Zenit St. Petersburg, Kokorin (4) and Kuranyi (4), both from Dynamo.
The vast majority of pundits blamed Fabio Capello for ignoring Artiom Dzyuba, 26, who finished the previous season as the top scorer of the Russian Premier League. Capello has lamented many times that good Russian forwards are few and far between but didn’t pick the Spartak player on his lineup.
4. Among Sport Express’ best players of Round 5 are Vladimir Bystrov (Krasnodar, former player of Zenit St Petersburg), Artiom Dzyuba (Spartak Moscow), Alexey Ionov (Dynamo Moscow), Gabonese Kanga Kaku Guélor (Rostov) and Hulk (Zenit St. Petersburg).
5. And – last but not least – Spartak Arena is slated to be unveiled on August 27 to give the second-place team headed by a new coach a comfortable modern home pitch.
Author: Mikhail Vesely
