FK Chernomorets Novorossiysk

vs

Spartak Kostroma

Preview

Chernomorets Novorossiysk

• Chernomorets Novorossiysk has scored 18 times in 13 home games in the FNL 2025/2026 (1.38 goals per game).
• The visitors are currently in 5th place in the FNL 2025/2026 table with 41 points from their first 27 games, while the hosts sit 15th with 29 points after 27 matches.
• Denis Popov has seen his team fail to win any of their last 5 matches, losing 3 of them, since he took over at the end of January 2026.
• Popov has made Chernomorets a more pragmatic side, who play either a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 system and prefer to set up with a compact defensive block and attack on the break.

Spartak Kostroma

• Spartak Kostroma has an impressive away attack in the Russian FNL 2025/2026.
• The visitors have scored 22 goals in 13 away games this season (1.69 goals per game).
• Spartak has won 1, drawn 3 and lost 1 of their last 5 league matches but picked up a crucial confidence-boosting 2-1 win over FC Yenisey Krasnoyarsk last time out.
• Evgeniy Taranukhin took the helm at Spartak in January 2025 and has since implemented a high-tempo 4-2-3-1 system, in which the team presses as a unit and looks to dominate territory with collective, aggressive pressing and rapid, vertical transitions.

Head-to-Head

Key Players

• Key players to watch:
  • Anton Antonov is the top scorer for the home side with just 4 goals in 23 FNL games.
  • Spartak’s Amur Kalmykov has 12 goals in 27 FNL matches in 2025/2026 and has 4 in his last 5.

Betting Insights

• Kalmykov to continue his fine goalscoring form for Spartak on the road and the oddsmakers have priced Kostroma as slight favorites at 2.32.
• Over 2.5 goals is available at 2.21 and Both Teams to Score - Yes is 1.87 for what promises to be a very lively affair on the Black Sea.

Prediction