Sitting in second place of Group 4 in World Cup qualifying, Russia returns to play this Saturday against Azerbaijan and the following Wednesday against Liechtenstein. While Russia is heavily favoured in both matches they will need to be careful, particularly against Azerbaijan.
In speaking to Sports Express, Andrei Arshavin noted:
"I always want to score and Saturday is no exception. But moreover I want to win and it does not matter who is going to score in this case."
Guus Hiddink has returned from Chelsea, serving double duties managing the English Premier League side and has selected a squad with CSKA Moskva and Zenit Saint Petersburg leading with six players each:
Goalkeeper:
Igor Akinfeev (CSKA Moskva),Vyacheslav Malafeev(Zenit St. Petersburg), Vladimir Gabulov (Dynamo Moskva)
Defenders:
Sergei Ignashevich (CSKA Moskva),Vasili Berezutski(CSKA Moskva),Aleksei Berezutski (CSKA Moskva), Yuri Zhirkov (CSKA Moskva), Denis Kolodin (Dynamo Moskva),Renat Yanbayev (Lokomotiv Moskva), Aleksandr Anyukov( Zenit Saint Petersburg)
Midfielder:
Konstantin Zyryanov(Zenit Saint Petersburg),Igor Denisov (Zenit Saint Petersburg),Igor Semshov (Zenit St. Petersburg), Diniyar Bilyaletdinov (Lokomotiv Moskva),Dmitri Torbinski (Lokomotiv Moskva)Ivan Saenko (Spartak Moskva),Alan Dzagoev (CSKA Moskva),Sergey Semak (Rubin Kazan),
Strikers:
Dmitriy Sychev(Lokomotiv Moskva),Pavel Pogrebnyak (Zenit St. Petersburg),Andrei Arshavin (Arsenal), Roman Pavlyuchenko (Tottenham Hotspur)
Вратари: Игорь Акинфеев (ЦСКА), Владимир Габулов ("Динамо"), Вячеслав Малафеев ("Зенит")
Защитники: Александр Анюков ("Зенит"), Алексей Березуцкий, Василий Березуцкий, Сергей Игнашевич (все – ЦСКА), Денис Колодин ("Динамо"), Ренат Янбаев ("Локомотив").
Полузащитники: Динияр Билялетдинов, Дмитрий Торбинский (оба – "Локомотив"), Игорь Денисов, Константин Зырянов, Игорь Семшов (все – "Зенит"), Юрий Жирков, Алан Дзагоев (оба - ЦСКА), Иван Саенко ("Спартак" М), Сергей Семак ("Рубин")
Нападающие: Андрей Аршавин ("Арсенал"), Роман Павлюченко ("Тоттенхэм"), Павел Погребняк ("Зенит"), Дмитрий Сычёв ("Локомотив")