The confrontation between Lokomotiv and Krasnodar will become one of the most anticipated at the start of the second round of the Russian Championship. An additional subtext is given by the result of the first meeting of the teams, which took place at the very beginning of the current Premier League season. In Krasnodar, the 'bulls' hosted the 'railway workers' as favorites but conceded two goals and lost, which can be said was undeserved. Questions were left for the referees by Murad Musaev as well. The second goal to Agkachev's net was scored by Batrakov after a push-off from a defender in aerial combat. One way or another, that defeat was the first for Krasnodar this season, and apart from the Moscow team, the reigning champions in the league managed to beat only Zenit. Krasnodar went on break, related to the national team match period, as the leader of the standings. Such status has become quite familiar for Musaev's charges. In the last two championships, Krasnodar also won the first round but with a different overall season outcome. Lokomotiv held the first position for a long time, but mishaps in the last month dropped the team to fourth place. However, the 'railway workers' have remained in the leading group of the Premier League. Despite their position, Lokomotiv is only three points behind Krasnodar. Bookmakers have made the guests the favorites of the upcoming match, offering a coefficient of 2.43 on their victory. Krasnodar had a very decent playing period in October and November, during which conceded goals became rare for the 'bulls', not to mention lost points. The first slip in five rounds occurred for Krasnodar in the last round in Kaliningrad. Cordoba, Krivtsov, Douglas Augusto, and Diego Costa did not travel there. Unfortunately, already on site, Sergey Petrov was lost for a long time. The visit to Baltika did not turn out well for the 'bulls'. The local club almost inflicted a defeat on the champion. If, in general, Baltika is currently playing at the level of the best clubs in the championship and stumbling in a match against them is not disgraceful, Lokomotiv has only won once in their last four official matches. The victory was secured against modest Orenburg with an equally modest score of 1:0. The clear downturn in Lokomotiv's performance does not bode well for them in the match against the champions of Russia.