Former Zenit footballer Konstantin Lepekhin believes that the “blue-white-blue” will be able to improve in the second part of the WORLD Russian Premier League (RPL) season.

Zenit finished the first part of the RPL season in second place in the standings, gaining 36 points. Krasnodar went into the winter break in the championship as the leader (38 points).

— If you look at it globally, did you expect such a fight for first place in this championship?

— I expected it, as always. It’s more interesting to watch RPL this way. For the first time in five years we see such a situation. This is only a plus for all fans, except for St. Petersburg. But for me, Zenit is still my favorite.

– Why? Nobody expected Krasnodar to become the winter champion. Maybe the team will succeed in the spring?

— I don’t rule it out, it’s just that the probability that Zenit will become the champion is higher than the probability that Krasnodar will become the champion. And so, there is a possibility of victory for Dynamo and CSKA. “Spartak” can sharply improve and win all the remaining matches. But St. Petersburg residents still have higher chances.

— What percentage would you give for Zenit to win the championship?

– 70%. Moreover, the gap from first place is only two points. Everything will depend on how the winter transfer window goes: who leaves the first two clubs, who comes. If everything remains as it is now, then Zenit will become the champion.

– But Semak’s team is in an unusual situation. Won’t he flinch?

“It seems to me that Semak himself is interested in watching this and finding out how certain players will behave in such a difficult situation. Anything can happen, but the St. Petersburgers have the internal reserve to improve. You can try to use rotation, permutations, change the scheme. But in Krasnodar there is no variability. The southerners need to strengthen themselves in winter in order to successfully continue the fight for gold.

— Are the Bulls ready for the championship?

“Krasnodar shows that it is ready to fight for the championship. And yesterday’s match with CSKA also showed this. This is not the first match that the southerners snatch victory in the last minutes of the game. This means the team is motivated for this task. Which is already important,” Euro-Futbol.Ru quotes Lepekhin as saying.

Watch live broadcasts of MIR RPL matches on the Match TV and MATCH PREMIER channels, as well as on the websites sportbox.ru and matchtv.ru.