Russian Premier League leaders Kazan remained on top of the table on Sunday despite a 0-0 draw at Grozny, while closest rivals Perm slumped to a 2-0 defeat at defending champions Zenit St Petersburg.

Kazan have 28 points from 14 matches, two ahead of Perm while Dynamo Moscow are third on 24 points.

Zenit overcame seeing strikes from Alexandro Domingues and UEFA EURO 2008 star Andrei Arshavin ruled out for handball to take a 30th minute lead through midfielder Konstantin Zyryanov. Six minutes after the interval, Zenit skipper Anatoly Tymoshchuk added the second goal from the penalty spot after Arshavin had been brought down in the box.

CSKA Moscow, champions in 2003, 2005 and 2006, missed their chance to jump into fourth spot after suffering a 2-0 defeat at the hands of city rivals FC Moscow. FC Moscow were in front after just five minutes through Stanislav Ivanov with Czech midfielder Tomas Cizek netting the second in the 69th minute.

Nine-time champions Spartak Moscow battled back from two goals down to record a 2-2 draw in another Moscow derby with Lokomotiv. Lokomotiv captain Diniyar Bilyaletdinov and Dmitry Sychev netted one apiece in the first half. Spartak striker Roman Palvyuchennko reduced the arrears with 18 minutes remaining, and his fellow attacker Nikita Bazhenov saved the day for Spartak with an injury-time equaliser.

http://www.fifa.com/

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