CSKA had a strong streak, winning the last 5 RPL matches, including against Ural (2:1) in the final round and Zenit (1:0) in the 20th round. It is worth noting that in 4 out of 5 matches, Vladimir Fedotov’s team does not lose a goal and in the spring part of the championship alone, he allowed the opponent to score only 6 goals in 10 matches in all tournaments.
In terms of the expected number of goals scored (xg = 1.8) and conceded (xga = 0.89) in the Russian Premier League, the “soldiers” are in 3rd and 2nd place, respectively.
“Ural”, apart from successes in the cup, cannot boast of anything significant recently. Viktor Goncharenko’s team lost 4 consecutive rounds of the last 5 in the championship with a goal difference of 1:7. As a result, the “bumblebees” fell to the 11th line of the table, and the loss to the relegation zone was 6 points.
It is worth noting that the “yellow-black” does not differ in a sparkling attack. They achieve their goal through sticky pragmatic football in a row. For example, in terms of the expected number of goals scored (xg = 1.16), Ural is in the top five.
Both teams try to play mostly solid defense in their matches. I think the high price of a mistake at this stage of the tournament will force the opponents to act more carefully, leading to a closed game.