Rubin Kazan

Rubin were once again one of the more assured and chaos-free outfits last season, getting the majority of their points against teams lower down the standings and at home and securing the odd decent result on the road. That proved enough for them to remain in a position in mid-table and far away from any real trouble during the campaign. It was not exactly exciting but the locals were happy enough with their side and their status as the best team outside of the big four from Moscow, Zenit and Krasnodar. Rashid Rakhimov and the club continue their cooperation despite some rumours that they could be parting ways late last season as they seem to fit well with each other and the experienced coach is capable of getting close to the maximum of what is a squad that is not really brimming with too much talent. There have been just one notable addition made in the summer so far and there is definitely need for some, especially in the forward positions and also in the wide areas. To be fair, there have been no major departures either and as long as Mirlind Daku remains on board, despite continued interest in the burly Albanian striker, the Tatars side should remain a pretty dangerous outfit. They have some good players in midfield in Vedrin Hodzha, Bojan Jocic and Ikochukwu Iwu but the defensive options could become scarce if one or two players are down injured. In terms of attack, Daku has never really had an established partner and more of a rotating cast and finding an effective foil for him in the market can lift the ceiling of this team. All in all, the basis at Rubin is very stable and that should get them enough points to steer clear of any real trouble at the bottom end of the standings.