Khimki hosts FC Rostov in round 1 of French Ligue 1. The match will be played on Sunday, August 8th at Arena Khimki (Khimki)
Khimki is on the 7th line in the Russian championship standings (three points after two rounds). The Red-Blacks had a difficult calendar at the start of the season. In the first round, they played at home against the reigning champions from St. Petersburg Zenit (1-3). And on August 1, Cherevchenko's footballers played away against the ambitious Krasnodar. Despite their underdog status, Khimki won the game 1-0 thanks to a goal by Ilya Kukharchuk, who scored in the second match in a row. The club from the Moscow Region played defense first and owned the ball only 36% of the playing time, but this did not prevent it from getting ahead of the home team in shots on goal (14-11) and on target (8-5).
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After two starting rounds, FC Rostov takes the penultimate 15th place in the RPL standings (0 points). Since the beginning of the season, the Yellow-Blues have been in the spotlight due to the appointment of Valery Karpin as the new head coach of the Russian national football team. The 52-year-old Russian planned to combine this position with work at Rostov, but home defeats to Dynamo Moscow (0-2) and Zenit (2-4) forced Karpin to focus on working with the national team.
Rostov changed the coach at the start of the season, and this could give impetus to the team, which had an unconvincing performance in the last matches under Karpin. But this does not mean that the team's performance will instantly improve. Semin has just started to work, and he will need time to adapt in Rostov. Beyond that, the opponent will not give points without a fight. Khimki is an unyielding and organized team, especially at home. Since November 2020, the Red-Blacks have played 11 home matches in the RPL and lost only 2 times to Zenit St. Petersburg. Fc Rostov is unlikely to find arguments against the Red-Blacks on their field.
Prediction for the match: Khimki to win with +0.5 handicap and Under 3.5 goals scored
