Akhmat Grozny
- Akhmat Grozny have won four and drawn one of their last five games in all competitions.
- Akhmat have won five of their nine home games in the league, conceding an average of only 1.22 goals per home game.
CSKA Moscow
- CSKA Moscow have won four of their last five matches and are on a three-game winning streak.
- CSKA Moscow are fourth in the 2025-26 Premier League on 36 points from 18 games and Akhmat are eighth on 22, which is not a huge disparity in such a competitive league.
- CSKA’s away form is mixed with three wins, two draws and four defeats in the league, averaging 1.22 goals conceded per away game.
- CSKA’s form has improved with back-to-back home wins over FK Lokomotiv Moscow (2-1) and FC Rostov (3-1).
Head-to-Head
- CSKA Moscow have won four of the last five head-to-heads and won 2-1 at home to Akhmat seven months ago.
- FC Akhmat Grozny have failed to win their last two home matches against CSKA Moscow.
Key Players
- Stanislav Cherchesov has installed a very disciplined, defence-first mentality in this team that sits very deep in a 4-2-3-1 system, clogging the central areas of the pitch.
- They are well-drilled in playing on the counter-attack and can be very dangerous from dead balls, as well as a few forays forward.
- Egas Cacintura leads their attack with six goals in 16 Premier League games, making him their main man up front, but they will need their defense to keep CSKA at bay if they want to get a win.
- CSKA coach Fabio Celestini has installed a fast-paced game with lots of tempo and pressing, although Ivan Oblyakov - their main player in the offensive third - has only scored five goals in 18 league games.
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Players to watch:
- Egas Cacintura - six goals in 16 Premier League games.
- Ivan Oblyakov - five goals in 18 league games.
Betting Insights
- The bookmakers make CSKA the clear favorites to win the game at 2.37 with Akhmat 3.3 and the tie at 3.44, which looks like a pretty tight matchup.
- Under 2.5 goals looks likely at 1.81, as both defences have been very solid.
Prediction
There may not be much between the two sides, but the momentum is with CSKA Moscow and they can eke out a win in what should be a tightly-contested, low-scoring game.
