Lokomotiv Moscow – Mordovia Saransk. Thomas Giles prediction

Lokomotiv Moscow are cannot make European football next year as their bad head-to-head record against city rivals Spartak means they lose out to Alenichev’s men. The Railroaders have seemingly not recovered from losing their striker Oumar Niasse to Everton in the winter transfer window and, coupled in with poor recent results, have had a disappointing second half of the season.

Mordovia have gone from looking like they were almost certain to escape relegation to being right back in the mire. The Saransk side have lost their last two matches 3-0, including against relegation rivals Anzhi Makhachkala which means they must pick up three points against Lokomotiv to have any chance of escaping relegation.

However, manager Marat Mustafin knows that his players are capable of picking up key wins when they need to, as proved a couple of weeks ago, and will be confident his side can turn it on for their match away in Moscow.

The bookies have not been kind to Mordovia in recent weeks which has allowed me to pick up some good wins. While it will no doubt be a tough match, I have a sneaky feeling Mordovia will once again surprise everybody and come out of this match with three points (again against the odds). Who knows, they may even escape the relegation places!