Rubin Kazan

Rubin Kazan are back in the top-flight after a year away on the basis of a very consistent campaign last year in which they lost just three times all season, and none since October, while a run of seven wins in the last eight games after the change of manager led them to securing the top spot. Now the aim for Rashid Rakhimov and his squad are to make a strong and solid start on the back of that impressive run in the spring and establish the Kazan outfit as a solid mid-table side that is well clear of any trouble at the bottom. The squad seems a bit lighter on quality compared to last season after the departure of a quality full-back like Ilya Samoshnikov and some pretty reliable and useful midfielders in Artem Popov, Alan Dzagoev and Igor Gorbunov. Rubin have mostly focused on the foreign market in search of reinforcements so far as Mirlind Kaku is expected to be the new lead striker after joining from Osijek. Igor Vujacic looks like a quality signing in defence that should make Rubin quite hard to score while Matej Rybus is a known quality at this level as a full-back, even he is has declined in the last couple of years. The squad looks perfectly decent and should be able to secure a mid-table spot without too many problems. Rakhimov is not a manager that takes too many risks and he will look to maximise the talent available while staying compact defensively.