Sochi vs Khimki: any room for sensation?

Sochi had a decent start to the new season, except for the very first game. In the opening round, Vladimir Fedotov's charges lost away to Nizhny Novgorod, and the Leopards played very poorly (0:1). But Sochi made a quick recovery and in the next game took three points from Akhmat in Grozny (2:1). 

The last 10 days were very difficult for the Leopards: they had to play two Conference League qualifiers against Partizan and the third Premier League game against Ural. After a home draw with the Serbian team, Sochi got a confident home win over Ural (2:0) and climbed to the 6th line in the table. In the second leg against Partizan, Sochi lost in the penalty shootout. 

Khimki, like their opponent, lost the first game of the Premier League. Igor Chervechenko's team faced Zenit at home, and even though Khimki opened the scoring, the reigning champion gave them no chance (1:3). But in the second round, the Red-blacks sensationally defeated Krasnodar away with a score of 1:0. The winning goal was scored by Ilya Kukharchuk.

Last week, Khimki were close to being defeated by Rostov. The opponent scored in the 14th minute and kept the advantage until the 70th minute. Denis Glushakov took a penalty and leveled the score. After three rounds, Khimki are in 11th place in the table, just one point above the relegation zone.