Eight Arsenal matches without a win

RPL rookie "Rotor" won the second consecutive victory in the RPL with a minimum score and left the last place.

In the last round, Volgograd defeated Ufa, and in this one - Arsenal.

The fate of the meeting was decided by a penalty awarded by Igor Panin in the 80th minute for a foul by Nikolai Rasskazov on Cedric Gogua.

The penalty spot was realized by Flamarion, although Yegor Shamov guessed the direction of the ball and almost saved the guests.

If Rotor has improved its position in the standings, then Arsenal is dropping lower and lower.

The Tulyans have not known victories in the RPL for eight matches.

Moreover, Dmitry Parfyonov's wards have not scored a single goal in the last five matches of the championship.

Slap in the face of Dynamo by former players of the team

In turn, Sochi ended the year with a streak of three consecutive victories in the national championship.

On Wednesday, the southerners beat Dynamo at home - 2: 0.

The blue and white, on the other hand, suffered a second defeat in a row, and in the last five matches they scored only four points.

In the first half, it was the guests who did not realize several dangerous moments looked better.

In the sixth minute, Vyacheslav Grulev opened the scoring at all, but the referee canceled the goal due to an offside position. 

Sochi was helped by the substitution of Anton Zabolotny immediately after the break.

After just seven minutes, the striker of the Russian national team brought the hosts ahead.

Following this, the forward forced Roman Evgeniev to foul at the cost of a second yellow card.

For the Dynamo defender, this removal was the second in the current RPL season. 

In the majority, Vladimir Fedotov's wards finished off the opponent.

Moreover, the team managed to hit the former football player of the blue and white Artur Yusupov.

And the assists were marked by Christian Noboa and Joaozinho, who also have experience of playing for Dynamo. 

Dziuba's sixth goal to Spartak 

In the central match of the round, Zenit confidently beat Spartak in the derby of the two capitals - 3: 1.

Petersburgers owned the ball 59% of the playing time, struck 25 shots (five - for the opponent), nine of which - on target (two for the opponent) and deservedly scored three points.

Moreover, Zenit managed to score a quick goal.

Already in the eighth minute, the gate of Alexander Maksimenko was struck by Serdar Azmun.

For the Iranian, this goal was the 11th in the current RPL season and the fifth in the last three league matches.

However, Spartak unexpectedly bounced back in the middle of the first half thanks to Dejan Lovren's curious own goal.

The red-and-white kept the draw until the 73rd minute, but the pressure of the hosts eventually paid off.

After a corner kick, Yaroslav Rakitskiy was the first on the rebound and sent a shell into the near corner from the penalty line.

The Ukrainian managed to score a jubilee fifth goal as part of Zenit.

The point in the derby was put by Artyom Dzyuba in the added time by the referee.

The striker of the Russian national team not only scored the 11th goal in the current national championship and caught up with Azmun in the tournament scorers race, but also once again hit the gate of the former team.

In 13 matches against Spartak in all tournaments, Dziuba made six effective strikes.

And the red and white extended two unsuccessful series at once in the confrontation with Zenit.

Firstly, they could not beat Petersburgers in the seventh match in a row.

Secondly, they have not won victories in St. Petersburg since May 2012. 

Cherevchenko's revenge on Lokomotiv

The match between Khimki and Lokomotiv turned out to be quite principled.

The head coach of the Moscow Region team Igor Cherevchenko not only spent six years in the camp of railway workers as a football player, but also headed them from 2015 to 2016 and even won the Russian Cup.

After leaving the club, the coach did not miss an opportunity to upset the former team, in particular, he defeated it together with Arsenal in Tula in 2019 - 4: 0.

This time, too, Khimki had a good chance of success.

The hosts, although they were below the venerable opponent in the standings, have recently gained a good move.

At the same time, Marko Nikolic's charges played out for a year with their last strength, and in the previous round they conceded five goals from Krasnodar. 

However, the first half of the meeting in the Moscow region turned out to be successful for the red-greens, despite the personnel losses.

Already in the 15th minute, Grzegorz Krychowiak opened the scoring after the transfer of Vitaly Lisakovich.

Even the hosts' quick return goal did not bother the guests.

Moreover, the gate of Anton Kochenkov was struck from the penalty spot by a pupil of railway workers Arshak Koryan.

Shortly before the break, Murilo again put Loko ahead.

However, in the second half of the meeting, the strength of the Muscovites ended, and in the end they allowed the opponent to turn the tide of the meeting.

The replacement of Vladimir Dyadyun with Pavel Dolgov also worked completely.

The striker first performed an assist to Ilya Kukharchuk, who scored a goal in the fourth RPL match in a row, and scored on his own in the 93rd minute. 

Thus, Khimki won five wins and one draw in the last six games of the Russian championship and finished the year in 11th place.

Lokomotiv suffered two defeats in a row and dropped to eighth place.

Berg's ninth goal in the current RPL season

But after the victory over Lokomotiv, Krasnodar beat Ufa at home with a minimum score and extended the winning streak in the national championship to three matches.

The success allowed the team to bypass the railway workers in the standings and reduce the gap from the third place to five points. 

The fate of the confrontation was decided by the goal of Marcus Berg in the middle of the first half.

The Swede scored the ninth goal in the current RPL draw and the third in the last two rounds.

Moreover, at the end of last season, he also had nine goals on his account.

In the future, Krasnodar had an advantage and could repeatedly increase the advantage in the score.

The Southerners struck 15 shots on goal, six of which were on target.

However, the experienced Ufa goalkeeper Alexander Belenov made five saves and saved the team from a bigger defeat. 

The end of the unsuccessful series of CSKA

CSKA ended the year on a positive note as well, which confidently beat Rostov on the road - 3: 1.

Although on the eve of the match, nothing boded the guests of success, because in the last four rounds of the RPL they did not win a single victory and scored only three points.

And taking into account the Europa League, the unbeaten streak was seven meetings.

It is not surprising that after the draw with Ural, the resignation of Viktor Goncharenko was talked about almost as a fait accompli.

However, the army team at a difficult moment played for the coach, and the one from whom this was least expected - Fedor Chalov came to the fore.

This season, the young striker has scored only two goals in all tournaments and started his last matches on the bench.

However, the disqualification of Ilya Shkurin forced the coaching staff to rely on the Russian.

And already at the 66th second, Chalov opened the scoring, beautifully beating the defender and breaking into the far corner with the bottom.

This goal was the fastest in the current RPL season.

After the break, Fedor scored twice more.

First, he hit an empty net after Alan Dzagoev's pass, and then sent the ball into the far corner with his head on the serve of a standard position.

So the forward scored the third hat-trick of his career and the first in more than two years.

And CSKA won its first victory in the Russian championship since October 8.

“Rostov” was not only defeated, but also lost due to injuries of Denis Terentyev and Matias Normann.

The only positive moment for the yellow-blues was the prestige ball of Alexei Kozlov in the 91st minute.   

Zeros in the confrontation between "Akhmat" and "Rubin"

But “Akhmat” and “Rubin” failed to hit each other's gates.

Grozny residents were eager to end the year with a home victory and interrupt a losing streak in the RPL.

They had the advantage most of the meeting and created several dangerous moments.

However, the guests' goalkeeper Yuri Dyupin acted reliably. 

In turn, in the absence of Djordje Despotovich and Khvichi, the citizens of Kazan practically did not threaten other people's gates.

Thus, the teams drew for the third time in a row.

And Akhmat extended the series of matches without victories in the championship to five and scored only three points in this segment. 

Signs of life from Tambov

The last RPL match in 2020 between Tambov and Ural - 1: 1 also ended in a draw.

The owners, experiencing serious financial problems, unexpectedly managed to fight.

Perhaps the team's game was influenced by the statement of head coach Sergei Pervushin that debts to the players should begin to be closed from next week.

As a result, the Tambov team played the first number and almost scored three points.

However, Ural managed to open an account.

In the course of a rare counterattack of the Yekaterinburg people, Otman El-Kabir struck the alien gate.

The hosts won back shortly before the break thanks to the fourth goal of Herman Onugha in the current RPL season.

In the second half of the meeting the teams failed to score, and the guests missed the most obvious chance to excel.

After an hour of play, Varazdat Aroyan held Alexey Yevseyev by the hand in his own penalty area, and referee Sergei Ivanov appointed a penalty.

However, El-Kabir struck higher from the penalty spot.

So "Ural" failed to end the year with an away victory, and "Tambov" interrupted an unsuccessful streak of six consecutive defeats in the RPL.