Spartak Moscow are seriously underachieving this season by the standards they have set for themselves over the past two seasons. Having finished last season in the third position, they were expected to be challenging the likes of Zenith and CSKA Moscow for the Russian league title this season, however, they come into this game in the 7th position in Russia and have just two wins from their last 8 games in all competitions.
They were dumped out of the Champions League in the qualifying round and have been dismal in their Europa League group campaign so far. They have collected just two points from 9 that has been made available to them, but one of those points came away at Rangers in their last Matchday, so they would be eager to do better here again.
Rangers have done well on their return to European football thanks to some good management of average players by Steven Gerard. The former Liverpool man helped them navigate the difficult qualifying rounds, and has placed them within 5 points of the Scottish league title with a game in hand.
They were beaten by Aberdeen at the League Cup semifinals a couple of games back, but that was their first loss in 8 games. They have also saved their best performances for this competition and they could get all three points here again.
