Dynamo defeat Arsenal in Tula

Sandro Schwarz made several changes into the starting eleven in comparison with the derby against Spartak. Two of them were forced — Sergey Parshivlyuk and Denis Makarov replaced Guillermo Varela and Vyacheslav Grulev who were missing this fixture due to dismissals. Roman Yevgenyev formed a centre-back duo with the Paraguayan Fabián Balbuena.

In the 14th minute, the White-Blues took an early lead. Fedor Smolov recorded his third goal in four games since returning to Dynamo Moscow. The Russian international capitalised on Ivan Novoseltsev's king's gift and beat the goalkeeper in one-on-one situation.

Five minutes later Anton Shunin made a wonderful save turning Evans Kangwa's effort away. But Dynamo captain was helpless in front of Kings Kangwa's rebound strike. Fortunately, the referee went to the VAR screen and ruled out the goal because of a handball.

In the 30th minute, the home side scored a leveller. Despotović escaped an offside position and assisted on Evans Kangwa who hit the right bottom corner. Dynamo players put more pressure on Tula side creating more goalscoring chances. The ball sent from Sebastian Szymanski's free-kick touched the left post.

After the interval Arsen Zakharyan regained the lead for Dynamo benefiting from an unsuccessful header of Novoseltsev who became a real antihero of this encounter. In next episodes the spectators saw Kochenkov and Shunin save their goals after slashing shots by Daniil Fomin and Evans Kangwa.

Dynamo substitutions and succeeding tactical changes led to the securing third goal. Zakharyan was cut down inside Arsenal penalty area. And Daniil Fomin converted his sixth successful penalty this season.

In added time Konstantin Tyukavin raced into the hosts' penalty box and sealed an emphatic win for the White-Blues. Dynamo earned 42 points and remain second in the table. In the next round our team will face Rostov at VTB Arena on Sunday, March 20.