MOSCOW, September 28 (RIA Novosti) - Spartak Moscow scored five goals without reply against West Siberia's Tom Tomsk to move within four points of leaders Rubin in the Russian Premier League.
After Rubin's shock 2-1 home defeat to Urals club Amkar on Friday, Spartak knew that victory on Sunday would breathe life back into a title race that only last weekend seemed devoid of intrigue.
Five goals from five different players - three in the first half from Martin Jiranek, Pavel Yakovlev and Egor Filipenko and two in the second from Eldar Nizamutdinov and Quincy Owusu-Abeyie, back in Moscow after spells at Arsenal and Birmingham City - gave Spartak a 5-0 win.
Spartak's Brazilian forward Alex, recently called up to the national side by coach Dunga, was instrumental in the win.
"Everything is in our hands now," he told Sovetski Sport. "If we continue to win we are sure to get a chance to catch up with Rubin. And win the title!"
Zenit St. Petersburg defeated CSKA Moscow 2-0 on Saturday to move into third place. The match was marred by fighting between Zenit fans that broke out after a section of the home crowd began chanting "Bystrov - pig!" at Russian international Vladimir Bystrov, who recently rejoined the club after four years at Spartak.
"I was told after the game with CSKA how several fans had been hurt defending me," Bystrov told Sovetski Sport. "I was shocked - I had never imagined that such a thing could happen at Petrovsky Stadium."
Lokomotiv Moscow's three-game winning run was ended in the Chechen capital of Grozny with a 2-1 defeat to Terek. The club remain in fifth place.
At the bottom of the table, Moscow Region club Khimki are all but down after a 3-0 defeat to FC Moscow in the capital. With two wins all season and thirteen points from safety, Khimki can surely begin planning for life in the Russian First Division. They look likely to be joined by one from Kuban, Spartak Nalchik or Tom Tomsk.
Results September 25-27
Kuban 0-0 Krilya Sovetov
Spartak Moscow 5-0 Tom Tomsk
Zenit St. Petersburg 2-0 CSKA Moscow
Rubin 1-2 Amkar
Terek Grozny 2-1 Lokomotiv Moscow
Spartak Nalchik 1-0 Rostov
Dynamo Moscow 1-0 Saturn
FC Moscow 3-0 Khimki
Russian Premier League table (23 games)
Rubin 47
Spartak Moscow 43
Zenit St. Petersburg 40
CSKA Moscow 39
Lokomotiv Moscow 38
FC Moskva 37
Dynamo Moscow 34
Saturn 32
Terek 30
Krylya Sovetov 29
Rostov 27
Amkar 27
Tom Tomsk 25
Spartak Nalchik 23
Kuban 23
Khimki 10
