Russian Premier League table-toppers CSKA Moscow and Rostov face off on Saturday in a top-of-the-table clash CSKA coach Leonid Slutsky suggests will shape the rest of the season.

The Red Army side, who beat city rivals Spartak 1-0 in Moscow's most famous derby last week, are three points above Rostov, who also chalked up an away win at Samara by the same scoreline.

"We were happy to restart the championship in winning style," CSKA manager Leonid Slutsky said.

"The only thing that upset me is that we failed to score more than once against Spartak.

"But I hope the derby win will inspire my men ahead of our match with Rostov, who are on the rise. They beat Samara to keep us under pressure and I believe that the result of our meeting on Saturday will influence the remainder of the season."

Rostov manager Kurban Berdyev, who led Rubin Kazan to back-to-back Russian titles in 2008-09, said he expected a very tough clash on Saturday.

"We played a very difficult match against Samara, where sometimes we had to fight hard to keep our lead throughout," Berdyev said.

"But on Saturday I expect an even harder game as we're taking on the league's leaders, who are focused completely on their performance in the Premier League.

"They have won both of their games after the winter break and their match with Spartak showed that they're in good form. There's no doubt that we will need to perform at our best against them."

Reigning champions Zenit St Petersburg hope to bounce back from their 3-1 aggregate defeat at the hands of Portuguese giants Benfica in the Champions' League last 16 when they take on Rubin Kazan on Sunday.

Zenit manager Andre Villas-Boas said despite the defeat he was pleased with his team's Champions League performance adding his team will now focus on their domestic campaign.

"We had the opportunity to go further, we were not expecting this defeat," the former Porto, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur coach said. "We played openly and strongly, but Benfica got the result."

"But we still have our objectives for the season's remainder. We are in the Russian Cup semi-finals and have a fair chance of winning the trophy.

"Besides we still have the prospect of defending our title. Of course, being nine points behind CSKA we need not only to play at our best but also to wait for the leaders' slip-ups to close the gap.

"But we still have 11 matches to play. It's a long distance and everything is still possible.

"We will continue the struggle as long as we have even the slightest mathematical chance of retaining the title."

Fixtures (all times GMT)