Football Season Guide

Khimki were in real peril all season last year and needed to go through the relegation playoffs, where they edged SKA Khabarovsk, before ensuring safety. It was a real slog of a season for them but Sergey Yuran deserves some credit for the way he managed to galvanise a squad that was struggling and they got some decent wins under the belt with him in the spring. The Red and Blacks again start as one of the relegation contenders this season but will be looking to use the momentum from that strong finish of the last campaign as they aim to avoid the sort of struggles from 12 months ago, where they managed just two wins in their first 17 games. The squad has mostly been kept the same as last season, even if losing a promising player like Kirlll Bozhenov is indeed a blow. Aleksey Nikitin is a new addition at the back who is dependable at this level while goalie Anton Mitryshkin, a former Spartak Moscow trainee who has been abroad in recent years, comes as a likely replacement for want away keeper, Ilya Lantratov, who remains with the club for now. Yuran is likely to again prioritise safety-first football, using speedy players like Ilya Kucharchuk and Reziuan Mirzov on the counter, and the team does indeed look in a decent position to steer clear of trouble this season.