A victory against Krylia Sovietov on Saturday will put them top of the table for at least 24 hours, with the reigning champions playing CSKA on Sunday.

If Spartak do manage to win the Russian Premier League title, they will certainly have earned it.
Following Saturday's match, Valery Karpin's side face bitter rivals CSKA Moscow and then Zenit, which will both be very tough games.

Krylia aren't in the best form of late, but Spartak's caretaker boss isn't taking anything for granted.

“I think Saturday's match with Krylia will be the hardest of the three games for us. The weather conditions won't help us, while we don't know what condition the pitch will be in. We know everything about CSKA and Zenit, and it certainly won't be hard to motivate the players for these two games. I just hope my players will show the same motivation against Krylia Sovetov,” Valery Karpin said.

Krylia have won just once in their last seven games, while earlier in the season, the two clubs played out a 1-1 draw in Moscow.

The team from Samara were excellent in the first half of the season, but the second part of their campaign has been woeful. Nevertheless, they have some good players, including Czech giant Jan Koller, who's scored 9 times so far in the league.

“Everyone knows about Krylia's lack of form of late, but it will be a very tough match for us.
All teams raise their game when they play against Spartak, while they have nothing to lose, so they are just playing for pride," Karpin stressed.

Saturday's game promises to be a tough afternoon for Spartak Moscow, but Valery Karpin's men are in great form of late, winning their last five games, and scoring 18 goals in the process.