Spartak Moscow vs. Lokomotiv Moscow 8/23/20 Premier League Soccer Pick, Odds, and Prediction

Spartak Moscow is hosting Lokomotiv Moscow in the Moscow derby in round 4 of the Russian Premier League.

Spartak has been playing well at the beginning of this new season, and they are still undefeated. Spartak has 2 draws and 1 win in the first three games of the season. During this stretch, Spartak has scored 5 goals, while conceding 3 goals. With 5 points, Spartak is in 8th place in the standings. In their latest Premier League match against Ufa on the road, Spartak was a much better team with 71% of ball possession, 5 shots on goal, 8 corner kicks, 4 big chances created, and 84% of the correct passes. After conceding a goal in the 2nd minute of the game, Spartak had a penalty kick in the 12th minute, but they missed. In the 18th minute, Spartak was able to tie the score, but none of their chances after that was good enough to score a winning goal. This match ended in 1-1 draw. Ponce and Larsson have both scored 2 goals, while Sobolev added 1 more goal. Kokorin is the only injured player for Spartak Moscow. Last season was solid for Spartak, but unfortunately for them, they were far from the Europa League. The start of the new season was solid, let’s just hope Spartak can keep it up and get to the Europa League spot this season.

Lokomotiv is playing well at the start of this season, but they are not using their chances, and they are struggling a lot. With 2 wins and 1 draw, Lokomotiv is still undefeated, and they are in 3rd place in the standings with 7 points. The difference between them and Zenit is already 5 points, but we are still in the early stages of the season. Lokomotiv has conceded only 1 goal so far, and that was in their latest Premier League game against Ural. Lokomotiv was dominant in that match with 68% of ball possession, 8 shots on goal, 14 corner kicks, 5 big chances created, and 88% of the correct passes. As I’ve said, Lokomotiv is not using their chances, and they were losing in the 74th minute, but fortunately for Lokomotiv, they were able to tie the score in the 87th minute, and this match ended in a 1-1 draw. Rotenberg and Djordjevic are both injured, and none of them will be playing in this game. Miranchuk has scored 2 goals for Lokomotiv, while Smolov and Barinov each added 1 goal. Rybchinskiy and Zhivoglyadov both have 2 assists. Alongside Zenit and CSKA, Lokomotiv is probably the best team in Russia, but both CSKA and Lokomotiv are miles away from Zenit, and they will be fighting to second place that leads straight to the Champions League group stage.

The trends are pretty even here, and this match could go either way. I think I will pick something on goals here because neither of the defenses is playing well, but Spartak is scoring a solid amount of goals.