Zenit St. Petersburg’s Luka Dordevic has shared his expectations for the upcoming Russian Premier League tie against Lokomotiv Moscow and has hailed Slaven Bilic
The defending Russian Premier League champions, Zenit St. Petersburg, will go head on head with Lokomotiv Moscow at Petrovsky stadium this weekend on the back of a 1-2 win in the Russian Cup against FC Baltika Leningrad on Tuesday.
And while the morale of the St. Petersburg club is flying high, Dordevic has warned the defending champions to prepare harder for the next match, having already encountered disappointing results in different competitions this month.
The Meshki started the month with a 2-0 defeat against Terek Grozny followed by a 3-2 defeat in the group stages of the UEFA Champions League tournament. However, Zenit turned the tables after ending their miserable run by claiming
a win in the domestic cup.
As things stand, Luciano Spalletti’s team are at the 5th spot on the league table and are four points from the top.
However, Zenit will be without team captain, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Aleksandr-Kerzhakov-c4569, for the upcoming match as the Russian players are penalized for their unprofessional behaviour.
Lokomotiv, on the other hand, will be without http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Alberto-c4309 Zapater and Dario Kresic.
Luka Dordevic, who followed in the footsteps of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Hulk-c16436 and Renat Yanbaev to join Zenit this summer, has insisted that the Moscow-based club will struggle to play offensive football without Pavlyuchenko.
Pavlyuchenko, returned to the Russian championship from Tottenham Hotspur this summer, is in decent form after scoring 3 goals in 7 league appearances this season.
“Zenith are already four points behind the leaders. So, we have to win this match. Railroaders played a great game against Terek but I think that we can get positive result against them.”
“Pavlyuchenko is a very good footballer. The fact that he will not play in Saturday's game can be considered a positive thing for our team. However, Lokomotiv are among those clubs that have worthy replacements," the former Mogren
player was quoted as saying.
Dordevic went on to praise Bilic, saying that the Croatian tactician has undoubtedly improved the Moscow-based club.
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