On Monday, 31 March, Akron will play at home against Rostov. It's a match between two obvious mid-table teams with no tournament motivation. Both teams will no longer be able to reach the medals, and neither is in danger of relegation.

Before the international break, Akron played two games against the Moscow giants in a week - they dropped out of the Cup, losing to Spartak (2:3) and lost to CSKA (1:2) in a hard-fought game. At home the club gives a fight to almost everyone. Akron tries to play offensively, which is obviously easier to do now, given that they have solved the issue of the tournament. Akron is one of the leaders in average efficiency: 3 goals per game, the midfielder has conceded 38 goals - only Paris NN has more.

Against CSKA, it was a quality encounter. Akron had 13 shots, 4 of them on goal. The team has some depth now. Zaur Tedeev can keep up the intensity with substitutions. Against CSKA there were five of them.

Mysterious metamorphoses are taking place with Rostov. Valeri Karpin's departure has not yet brought the team down. The southerners have not collapsed, although they lost to Krasnodar at home in the previous round - 0:1. The game was equal - the leader did not have a big advantage. Obviously, Rostov will become weaker over the distance and will concede more often. The departure of Daniil Glebov is a powerful blow to the structure. So far the team has an experimental combination in the centre of the pitch: Shantalyi, Komarov, Kuchaev. With such a trio, it is unlikely that they will be able to expect serious results.

After the pause for international games it will be hard for Mohebi - the main player of the Iranian national team was involved in the matches of the national team and spent a lot of energy.

Rostov under new coach Jonathan Alba has no obvious game trends. Very much the club does not score, the total more than three has not yet passed. Interestingly, Rostov has an identical average performance to Akron - three goals per game.

In the first round, the club from Togliatti sensationally won 2-0 away. Then Artem Dzyuba was able to score one of the goals. The striker is in a great mood now after another record.

Bookmakers are now giving a puzzling odds of 3.50 on the home team. Akron looks very solid even against the leaders. Rostov without Glebov and with tired squad members is a doubtful favourite. At the same time, the odds on the visitors have dropped to 2.10.

Akron has no problems with the squad. All the leaders are ready to come out from the first minutes. The players have had almost two weeks to prepare for this meeting.

Another factor against Rostov is that the team is the worst in terms of playing in the first half away. This may be due to the lack of direct flights. The team has difficulties with physical form. The opponents are usually fresher before the break.