Heavily reinforced Anzhi meet motivated Lokomotiv Moscow side in their opening Russian Premier League fixture, with both sides hoping for a winning start to the campaign.

In spite of the heavy investment in the playing squad, the club from Makhachkala failed to impress last term, finishing the league campaign in third place.

Meanwhile, they did impress in Europa League, only to be eliminated by Newcastle following a 1-0 aggregate defeat in the Last 16 stage.

The club officials have once again added several high-profile signings to their ranks, with Igor Denisov, Christopher Samba and Aleksandr Kokorin all expected to play key roles this term.

Anzhi haven’t really impressed in pre-season and they have some important missings at the moment, but they are still 1.67 (2/3) favourites with William Hill to enjoy a winning start.

Boss Guus Hiddink is not without problems at the moment seeing that starting full-backs Andrei Eschenko and Arseni Logashov are both sidelined through injury, as is Yuri Zhirkov.

Having only joined the club few days ago, highly rated forward Aleksandr Kokorin is unlikely to start against Lokomotiv.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Gabulov – Gadzhibekov, Ewerton, Samba, Tagirbekov – Denisov, Diarra – Shatov, Willian, Boussoufa – Eto’o.

One of true giants of Russian football have largely struggled over the last few years and they have failed to show improvement under former Croatia boss Slaven Bilic.

Following a ninth-place finish last term, club chiefs opted to replace the Croat with Leonid Kuchuk, and it remains to be seen whether the new boss can help the side reach its full potential.

With captain Denis Glushakov leaving for arch rivals Spartak Moscow, the club have signed experienced defender Taras Mykhalyk, while much is expected of youngster Sergey Tkachev, who arrived from Metalist.

Despite doing pretty well in pre-season, the match against Anzhi will be the first serious test for Leonid Kuchuk’s side, who are no less than 5.50 (9/2) at Sportingbet to pass it with flying colours.

Having recorded a 4-1 triumph over very good Metalist side in their final warm-up game, Lokomotiv go into this match full of confidence.

With boss Leonid Kuchuk without selection worries at the moment, he is set to field his strongest side at Anzhi Arena.

Probable starting line-up (4-4-2): Guilherme – Shishkin, Corluka, Durica, Yanbaev – Samedov, Tigorev, Tarasov, Torbinski – Caicedo, N’Doye.

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