Villas-Boas absent as Zenit tackle unbeaten CSKA

Banned Zenit St Petersburg boss Andre Villas-Boas is confident his reigning Russian champions will cope in his absence against unbeaten league leaders CSKA Moscow on Saturday.

The former Porto, Chelsea and Tottenham manager will be missing from the bench in Moscow as he serves a six-match suspension for pushing an official in Zenit's defeat to Krylia Sovetov Samara.

Zenit sit third, six points behind CSKA, and need a win on Saturday to keep tabs on the Red Army side

"Regarding the bench, there is no number one coach, number two or number three," Villas-Boas assured a news conference.

"We are all technical staff and we all hope to lead the team."

Victory for the hosts will see CSKA matching Zenit's record-winning run of eight matches established on their way to last season's title.

CSKA manager Leonid Slutsky, who got off to a bright start as Russia's national team manager winning both of his matches in charge, said: "I have no doubt that Zenit will come to Moscow to play for the win.

"They need to achieve a positive result to make sure the gap between us doesn't widen.

"I expect a very interesting match on Saturday as CSKA and Zenit have won the last five Russian titles. I believe this season these two teams are also the main contenders for the title."