Champions Zenit gear up for Russia football title defence

Zenit, who have boosted their line-up by signing Russian international forward Artem Dzyuba and midfielder Artur Yusupov during the break, kick off their campaign on Sunday against Dynamo Moscow, who finished fourth last season.

While Portuguese manager Andre Villas-Boas concedes Zenit's players are not yet at their physical peak, they have already won the Super Cup, battling back from a goal down to beat Russian cup winners Lokomotiv Moscow in a penalty shootout last Sunday (July 12).

"Our (off season) preparation was shorter to give the international players some time off after coming back from their national teams and that’s why we're not ready yet," the former Porto, Chelsea and Tottenham manager said.

"We are not at our top level yet but I am sure that the team will be ready and fitter in the near future."

Last season's runners-up CSKA Moscow face a serious early test of their title credentials as they face two-time former champions Rubin Kazan in their season opener.

The Red Army's manager Leonid Slutsky, who is also one of the frontrunners for Russia's vacant head coach position after the dismissal of Fabio Capello, said he was pleased with his team's preparations for the new season.

"We've worked hard and efficiently during the break," he said.

"I'm satisfied with my team's performance in the warm-up matches but only the official encounters will show whether we've done everything right."

FC Krasnodar, who finished third last season, are also among the title challengers. They start the season at Amkar Perm on Monday (July 20).

Their manager, Oleg Kononov, believes that his men are good enough to make a stab at winning their first national title.

"Last season we had chances to battle for the title but our performance wasn't consistent enough and we missed out at the end of the season," he said.

"But we're moving forward step by step as we managed to win our first league medal after just four seasons in the Premiership. This season we will try to take another step ahead.

"Of course it's very hard to compete with Zenit and CSKA, who both have a set of star footballers in their line-ups, but I hope we've learned from our past mistakes."

Russia's most successful outfit, Spartak Moscow, who have parted company with Swiss manager Murat Yakin after finishing sixth last season, open up the Premiership on Friday when they take on lowly Ufa.

The nine-time champions are currently under the guidance of Dmitry Alenichev -- the only Russian to win the Champions League as a player -- who took over the capital club during the summer break.

"Spartak's line-up is composed of classy players and I believe there's no need to retrain them completely to adjust them to Spartak's traditional style," he said.

"We just need to change our approach and philosophy a little bit. And our first joint practices (training) and warm-up games showed me that we're moving all together in the right direction."

Fixtures (all times GMT)

Friday

Spartak Moscow v Ufa (1600)

Saturday

CSKA Moscow v Rubin Kazan (1530), Rostov v Terek Grozny (1800)

Sunday

Zenit St Petersburg v Dynamo Moscow (1030), Mordovia Saransk v Lokomotiv Moscow (1500), Anzhi Makhachkala v Samara (1800)

Monday

Amkar Parm v FC Krasnodar (1400), Kuban Krasnodar v Ural Yekaterinburg (1700)