CSKA Moscow's army men had such a busy winter break that they couldn't help but spark optimistic forecasts about the results of the second part of the season. Many journalists and football experts predicted CSKA's active participation in the fight for the championship title. However the first official matches of 2026 showed that Fabio Celestini has at his disposal a very good squad of players, which still needs to be transformed into a stable team. Ahead of the twentieth round, CSKA trails the league leader Krasnodar by seven points, occupying fourth place in the standings. At the same time, the army men are in excellent spirits after an impressive victory over the Russian champion in the national cup semifinal. Moscow Dynamo is on a roll as well. For the second part of the season the team was prepared by Rolan Gusev, not a newcomer to the White-and-Blue. After Valery Karpin's dismissal, Dynamo's management did not try to improvise and appointed a specialist who knows the squad well and has his own views on the team's play. So far everything indicates that Gusev's choice is not mistaken. In the championship Dynamo does not vie for anything serious, but the players enjoy playing. Bookmakers have made the home team favorites for the upcoming match, offering odds of 2.28 on their victory. CSKA resumed the season with a match in Grozny, where they lost to Akhmat Grozny. During the match the army men were saved several times by Igor Akinfeev, a couple of times Grozny's goals were disallowed by the referee, but Stanislav Cherchesov's team managed to outplay the opponent in all respects, including the score 1:0. In midweek CSKA fully redeemed itself in the first leg of the Russian Cup semifinal, convincingly defeating Krasnodar 3:1. This time Celestini managed to carry out everything he planned. Dynamo, in the first spring round of the Russian Premier League, did not face resistance in the match against Krylya Sovetov 4:0. In the Russian Cup semifinal the White-and-Blue scored even more. At some point in the match Spartak paused and allowed four goals to be scored against them in a short span 5:2. Both opponents are strong, but CSKA's playing foundation looks more solid.