SKA Khabarovsk
- SKA Khabarovsk have conceded 12 goals across their last five league outings.
- The host’s approach is almost the exact opposite of Rotor, preferring to keep their defense compact and their games simple by sitting deep and looking to counter-attack.
- Goalkeeper Islam Imamov has been in his usual fine form and has kept his team in far too many contests that have been out of their grasp, especially when the defence has given up 12 goals in the last five league games.
- SKA have drawn three and lost two of those five, which is not a winning streak to carry into any match-up and especially this one against a red-hot Rotor.
Rotor Volgograd
- Rotor Volgograd are unbeaten in their last five FNL games, winning four and drawing one.
- Rotor Volgograd are the slight favorites with the bookies at 2.21 for Saturday’s clash with SKA Khabarovsk, who are 3.83 to beat the visitors and 2.99 for the draw.
- Dmitri Parfyonov has made his mark on Rotor in a positive way this spring by tweaking the Volgograd team’s attacking style and producing a run of results that has kept them firmly in the promotion race.
- They are in fourth place in the FNL after 28 games with 45 points and will stay in the play-off places if they can take all three points back to Volgograd from this contest.
Key Players
- Vladislav Bragin is the focal point of SKA’s attacking play, but his scoring return this season has been modest.
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Rotor, on the other hand, have a couple of players in their frontline that are always dangerous, Ilya Safronov up top and winger Said Aliyev, who have the ability to change the game.
- Ilya Safronov
- Said Aliyev
- Abusaid Eldarushev has popped up with some key goals during this recent four-game winning streak and it looks like an unpredictable attack that has scored 9 goals in the past three FNL games.
Betting Insights
- Odds: Rotor 2.21, SKA 3.83, Draw 2.99.
- Under 2.5 goals is priced at 1.33 and looks like the safer play given SKA’s recent record and the likely closeness of the match.
Prediction
- It looks as though the bookies are right to have the visitors as favorites here because Rotor are in better form, have better attacking depth and have more incentive for promotion than SKA, who need the points to avoid being pulled into a relegation battle.
- The most likely outcome is a Rotor away win, probably by a single-goal margin.
