The Muscovites put their best foot forward from the very beginning.

Vladimir Bystrov provided right back to Evgeny Makeev with a brilliant cross, and the letter got the ball rolling for the Red-whites on seventh minute.

Twenty minutes in, Welliton saw his effort denied by Saturn's keeper Antonin Kinsky, but Artyom Dzyuba was quickest to the rebound to give Spartak a more than comfortable 2-0 lead.

Welliton was once again at the heart of the action some six minutes later. The Brazilian fired home his first of the game as Bystrov posted his second assist.

And Welliton was on target in the second half, netting his fifth goal of the season so far.

The brace placed him at the top of the scorers’ list in the Russian top-flight.

Rubin 4-0 Tom

Elsewhere, the Russian champions Rubin returned to the top of the league. The Kazan side reclaimed the highest spot in the Premier League following a 4-0 thrashing of Tom.

Roman Sharonov opened the scoring for the home side 23 minutes in. The defender kept a cool head to get his bearings in a somewhat scrappy affair in front of Tom's goal.

And it didn't take Rubin long to give the home crowd more reasons for joy. Gekdeniz Karadeniz found himself on the end of a defence-splitting goal by Alejandro Domingez.

A disheartened Tom went in search of a goal of their own, but couldn't find one.

But Rubin could. Christian Noboa broke away after a defensive mess up to set up Roman Adamov for goal number three with just over ten minutes to go.

And Hasan Kabze completed the four-nothing rout minutes later.

The three points put Rubin at the top, one point clear of CSKA Moscow.

Spartak Nalchik 0-0 Khimki

It was a match of lost opportunities for Spartak Nalchik and Khimki, as the sides played out a scoreless draw in Southern Russia.

Keeper Roman Berezovsky played hero for the visitors after the ref awarded a penalty right at the death.

Berezovsky stopped Aleksandr Amisulashvili's powerful shot to earn Khimki their share of the spoils.

But neither side would be quite content with the draw, as Khimki stayed rock-bottom, and Nalchik remained on the brink of the drop zone.

Kuban 0-0 Rostov

No goals were scored either in the last game of the day as Kuban hosted fellow rookies Rostov.