Aiden McGeady (r) set-up Spartak's equaliser

With four games in phase one of the extra long 2011/12 season left to play, the top-eight and bottom-eight clubs who will contest for the title and relegation respectively, are almost confirmed. But this round saw the bigger picture shunted aside as Russia’s biggest cities clashed at Luzhniki where a Spartak Moscow side unbeaten in ten took on Zenit who’d lost only once in fifteen.

SPARTAK MOSCOW 2 – 2 ZENIT ST. PETERSBURG

A hotly contested derby was offset by news that a bus carrying Zenit fans to the capital was ambushed and attacked by Spartak supporters on the morning of the game – proof that poor behaviour between rival clubs is not limited to the English Premier League.

Both sides traded chances consistently in the opening 15 minutes with Spartak, arguably, the team on top early on.

And it was Spartak who landed the first blow when Emenike’s bustling run onto a De Zeeuw through-pass was halted by Anyukov’s sliding challenge, only for the Russia international right-back to prod the ball beyond the onrushing keeper and open the scoring with an own goal after 22 minutes.

Zenit countered quickly and struck an equaliser as Kerzhakov played Danny in behind a leaky Spartak defence and the Portuguese slotted-home on 39 minutes.

And speaking of landing blows, Spartak defender Nicolas Pareja was dismissed three minutes before half-time for landing a punch on Kerzhakov. Initially, the referee appeared not to see the incident but after the entire Zenit bench reacted dramatically, Parejo was given his marching orders.

Zenit immediately made their numerical advantage pay and Kerzhakov put Zenit ahead three minutes into the second 45 – but, despite a rash of chances thereafter, they could not find a third to kill the game.

And Welliton, Spartak’s Brazilian goal-machine, came off the bench after serving a three match ban for a clash with Igor Akinfeev in Spartak’s game with CSKA in August, marked his return with a goal 10 minutes from time to uphold The Meat’s unbeaten run.

The controversial incident between Akinfeev and Welliton left the Russia international goalkeeper with damaged cruciate ligaments and a six-month lay-off and now the in-form Kerzhakov will also miss Russia’s important Group B Euro Qualifying match with Slovakia this Friday after slipping on the artificial pitch and injuring his knee.

DYNAMO MOSCOW 2 – 1 FC KRASNODAR

Elsewhere, Dynamo Moscow were again the biggest winners of the weekend as the only top-four side to register a victory.

A full-blooded encounter saw Evgeny Shipitsin open the scoring for Krasnodar with his third in two games.

But Andriy Voronin – influential as Dynamo’s free scoring skipper this season – struck back with a brace to take the White-Blues to within three points of Zenit at the top of the table, nicely setting up the Zenit-Dynamo clash in 12 days’ time.

ANZHI MAKHACHKALA 0 – 1 LOKOMOTIV MOSCOW

The other big news was the week’s rash of managerial departures in the RPL. Three clubs, Amkar Perm, Terek Grozny and Anzhi Makhachkala, went into the weekend with new men at the helm – none of them won.

Statuesque defending on behalf of Russia’s equivalent of Manchester City allowed ex-City flop, Felipe Caicedo, to score a point-blank header after only five minutes.

Anzhi were clearly lacking the influence and organisation of Roberto Carlos who remained on the bench throughout, the result of being named joint-caretaker manager alongside former assistant, Andrey Gordeyev.

Loko survived two scares when first a goalmouth scramble saw Anzhi rattle the bar before Makhach Gadziev saw his shot cleared off the line. In the second 45, Angbwa again hit the woodwork for Anzhi.

The newly vacant post at the Dagestan club has meant a spate of high-profile managers linked to the mega-rich club, leading to England’s Fabio Capello to pour water on rumours he’s set to take charge. Whether it’s Capello or not, Anzhi now seem poised to swoop for a big name foreigner to lead the side to a title challenge for the second phase of the Russian league season come the Spring.

TEREK GROZNY 0 – 1 SPARTAK NALCHIK

Ex-Spartak goalkeeper Stanislav Cherchesov saw his new Terek team fall miserably to a Nalchik side who’d long been rooted to the foot of the league until Mitrishev’s strike brought them all three points here.

VOLGA NIZHNY NOVGOROD 0 – 0 AMKAR PERM

A sparse crowd had little to excite them as newly appointed Amkar boss, Miodrag Bozovic, saw his side keep a clean sheet in Novgorod. Peev got himself sent off for Amkar for dissent and the referee just about remembered Dani Bondarv had already been booked before a clumsy foul brought a second yellow.

KUBAN KRASNODAR 0 – 0 CSKA MOSCOW

The Armymen found it heavy going against Dan Petrescu’s Kuban who now find themselves up to sixth, three points above the eighth-place cut-off to contest the championship in the league’s second phase.

ROSTOV 1 – 0 KRYLYA SOVETOV SAMARA

Goal of the weekend came from Igor Smolnikov, gloriously earning all the points for Rostov.

TOM TOMSK 0 – 2 RUBIN KAZAN

Sorry Tomsk find themselves slumped at the foot of the table after a brace from Salvatore Bocchetti condemned Tom to their ninth game without a win – or even a goal.

This season’s anomalous format may be the only saving grace as Tomsk may yet avoid the drop if they do well enough in the mini-league between the bottom eight sides after 30 games. Not on this form though.