Leaders Lokomotiv Moscow host city rivals and fellow title hopefuls Spartak Moscow this weekend as the Russian Premier League returns from its three-month winter break.

Lokomotiv hold an eight-point cushion over Zenit St Petersburg and reigning champions Spartak, although winter is far from over in Moscow with the temperature forecast at a high of -7 degrees Celsius for Sunday's match.

Yury Semin's Lokomotiv shook off elements of rustiness with last month's 4-2 aggregate victory over Nice in the last 32 of the Europa League, with their reward a tie against Atletico Madrid.

"Our next match with Spartak is extremely important as it may have a serious impact on the (Russian league) title race and we should take advantage of this opportunity," said Lokomotiv coach Semin.

"But we should be cautious as Spartak's attack is very strong and dangerous."

Spartak crashed out of the Europa League following a 4-3 aggregate loss to Athletic Bilbao that was overshadowed by the death of a police officer following violent clashes between Spartak fans and security forces in Spain.

Massimo Carrera, the Spartak manager, said his team's European exit could help though in their to quest to retain the domestic title.

"That may be good for us as we will not need to spend our energy on the Europa League games any more," Carrera said. "Now everything depends on our approach to every single remaining match in the Russian league.

"My team performed well at Bilbao though we failed to advance. If we continue to play this way domestically, I believe we can really improve our position."

Spartak own the edge in the head-to-head record with 26 derby wins in the post-Soviet era, compared to 21 for Lokomotiv, although the latter triumphed 4-3 when the sides met in August.

Zenit, along with CSKA Moscow, are also through to the Europa League last 16 following last week's 3-0 defeat of Celtic in the return leg.

Roberto Mancini's team will try and chip away at Lokomotiv's lead at the top when they travel to Amkar Perm on Saturday.

"We played out a very good match with Celtic and won deservedly," Zenit boss Roberto Mancini said. "I'm happy with my team's solid performance after the winter break.

"The match with Celtic showed that the team is up and running physically and I hope we manage to keep up that momentum in our next matches."

Fixtures (all times GMT)