Former top scorer Hamid Agalarov scored only three times, and Vladimir Pisarsky, who finished the first part with 14 goals, did not score even once after moving to Krylia Sovetov. Arsen Zakharyan and Denis Makarov sharply slowed down after the change of head coach at Dynamo.
Zelimikhan Bakaev settled on the bench of Zenit in the company of Alexander Erokhin and Alexei Sutormin. Matvey Safonov made productive mistakes more often than other goalkeepers, and Nikita Chernov did not add reliability to Spartak's defense.