Free-scoring CSKA close gap on Zenit, Tula shock Lokomotiv
Russian champions CSKA Moscow closed the gap on Premier League leaders Zenit St. Petersburg with a confident 4-0 home win over ten-man Mordovia Saransk on Saturday.
The result in Moscow left the Red Army side second with 40 points from 19 matches, four behind Zenit, who take on Torpedo Moscow on Sunday. Dynamo Moscow, who play city rivals Spartak also Sunday, sit third on 35 points.
CSKA got off to a flying start with a fourth minute opening goal when midfielder Georgi Milanov helped the ball on to Alan Dzagoev in the area and the Russian international fired home from the edge of the six-yard box. In the 20th minute Mordovia were reduced to ten men after their midfielder Pavel Yakovlev was sent off for roughing.
The hosts soon made Mordovia pay as Finnish international Roman Eryomenko made it 2-0 for CSKA in the 33rd minute beating the visiting goalkeeper Anton Kochenkov with a sharp-angled shot. In the 64th minute Eryomenko had CSKA fans on their feet as he netted his second of the match with a 22-metre screamer before the hosts' left defender Kirill Nababkin rounded off the scoring with 11 minutes to go.
Elsewhere, Ufa were held 1-1 by lowly Amkar Perm, while two-time former champions Lokomotiv Moscow suffered an unexpected 1-0 home defeat at the hands of promoted Arsenal Tula, missing the chance to leap from Dynamo Moscow.