CSKA Pamir Dushanbe vs Lokomotiv Pamir Predictions

• CSKA Pamir have won five of their last seven home matches.
• CSKA Pamir have only kept two clean sheets in their last 10 matches.
• Lokomotiv-Pamir scored 80 goals as they were promoted as champions league season.

Hosts look forward to step down in opposition

A competitive 90 minutes is expected when CSKA Pamir take on newly-promoted Lokomotiv-Pamir and it’s the hosts who can take this Dushanbe derby dust-up.

No doubt CSKA Pamir will have been disappointed with their start to the 2020 Tajikistan Vysshaya Liga which sees them in eighth spot in the ten-team division with only one goal scored and five conceded.

It’s not to the standard of last season when CSKA finished a respectable fourth, narrowly avoiding a shot at the Asian Champions League qualifying campaign which can go down as low as third depending on what happens elsewhere on the continent.

However, Sergey Zhitsky’s side have got excuses for the opening as the fixture list computer was particularly cruel to them, with matches against the teams who finished in the top two spots last season – Khujand and runaway champions Istiqlol.

CSKA had Firuz Bobiev sent off when losing 3-1 to Khujand and then a 2-0 defeat at Istiqlol isn’t too bad anyway. This looks a much more winnable fixture against opponents who came up as the champions last season.

CSKA Pamir have won five of their last seven home matches and thankfully for them will be delighted at taking a step down in opposition.

Tough test for Lokomotiv Pamir after easy start

It would be wrong to get overly excited about Lokomotiv Pamir’s unbeaten start to the season as they have played two matches against opponents who were with them in the First League – Tajikistan’s second tier – in the 2019 campaign.

Therefore, a 2-2 home draw with Fayzkand is nothing to get excited about and the 1-0 victory against Dushbane-83 needs to be put into context. Dushbane were destroyed 7-0 against Istiqlol in their top-flight encounter.

This will be a much more difficult test and is why we are backing CSKA Pamir to come out on top, while the 2-1 correct-score option is the best one to take.

Lokomotiv scored 80 goals last term and have three in two this season, while CSKA have kept only two clean sheets in their last ten matches which suggests goals at both ends.