On Sunday, August 17, Dynamo will play at home against CSKA. The crisis for the 'white-blues' has unexpectedly dragged on. The team looks very poor in all matches. CSKA, on the contrary, has quickly adapted to Fabio Celestini's requirements and occupies the top position.

Dynamo struggled in their midweek game against Krasnodar. Valery Karpin's experiments were dismantled even by the experimental squad of the 'Bulls' – 4:0. The most concerning position is the goalkeeper's. The coach can't really rely on a stable goalkeeper. Andrey Lunyev has already made two costly mistakes in the new season. Igor Leschuk made a blunder playing with his feet in the match against Krasnodar. It is possible that Karpin will try a third goalkeeper, Andrey Kudravets.

Dynamo still faces enormous difficulties in creating goal-scoring opportunities. The Moscow team has taken the fewest shots on goal in the RPL. Ivan Sergeyev does not look too bad, but in most matches, he is being marked out even by mid-table and lower-tier teams – support is lacking.

Injuries have added to the problems. Maksim Osipenko is just returning from injury. Yaroslav Gladyshev was also absent. The talent has had a very weak start to the season – there have been no goal contributions at all.

CSKA, on the other hand, is the complete opposite. The army team plays very spectacularly and is clearly enjoying themselves. CSKA with Fabio Celestini has not lost a single match in the Russian championship yet. It has reached the point where the supercomputer Opta gives them a 25% chance of winning the title. Currently, based on this model, CSKA is the main favourite for the Russian championship against the backdrop of Zenit's and Spartak's problems.

A real revelation from Celestini is Danil Krugovoy. The full-back is now playing in attack. The player is one of the most productive in the Russian championship over the last four rounds. Krugovoy has scored three goals and made an assist. He almost matched his performance from last season – where he had one more goal contribution.

An interesting statistical point about CSKA: the club has a goal exchange in every match after the first round – which ended in a 0:0 against Orenburg.

Bookmakers still consider Dynamo to be the favourite. This is a small surprise. Karpin's team is weighed down by a series of failures, and there are significant difficulties in defence. CSKA is unlikely to be inferior to its neighbours at the moment. A high-scoring match seems likely. Dynamo has not had any games without conceding, except for the meeting with Rostov. The southerners created several chances there. CSKA tries to act in an attacking manner. The team prefers to win with a score of 2:1 than 1:0. Last season, the army team won twice in the RPL, but they also conceded.