Russia's Premier League resumes this weekend after its annual extended winter break with Zenit St Petersburg and Lokomotiv Moscow neck-and-neck in a tussle for the title closely chased by Spartak Moscow.
Joint leaders Zenit and Lokomotiv look clear favourites to take full points in matches with Tomsk and Samara when play resumes after the traditional three month to escape the worst of the Russian winter.
Zenit, who come into Sunday's tie with Tomsk without injured attacking midfielders Miguel Danny and Andrei Arshavin, boosted their front line by signing Venezuelan striker Jose Salomon Rondon from Rubin Kazan during the break.
The 24-year-old forward said he felt comfortable in his new club and under manager Luciano Spalletti.
"I feel comfortable here and with every new day I understand better and better what the club's head coach expects from me," said Rondon.
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Meanwhile, two-time Russian champions Lokomotiv will take on Samara on Monday without their French forward Lassana Diarra, who was sent off in Lokomotiv's previous Premiership match with Rubin Kazan.
Lokomotiv manager Leonid Kuchuk said he was pleased with his players' work in a training camp before the league's restart and expected them to be fully focussed.
"We have dome a serious amount of work ahead of the league restart and I'm pleased with my players' truly professional attitude," he said.
The weekend will also be marked by a Moscow derby clash between fourth-placed Dynamo and reigning champions CSKA, in fifth, at the Khimki Arena.
Dynamo look slight favourites as their manager Dan Petrescu has never lost a single match to CSKA head coach Leonid Slutsky in the Russian league.
But CSKA come into the clash on the back of a morale-boosting 2-0 win over Sokol Saratov in the Russian Cup round of 16.
Dynamo have boosted their line-up by signing Russian international defender Alexei Kozlov from Kuban Krasnodar.
Spartak Moscow, in third just once point behind the league leaders, face a trick away trip to the Caucasus to face Terek Grozny.
