Zambian duo of midfielder Klings Kangwa and striker Evans Kangwa suffered their second straight defeat with their Arsenal Tula teammates on Monday when they were handed a 3-1 beating by Zenit St.Petersburg.
Evans Kangwa led the line the absence of Evgeni Lutsenko who is still out nursing an injury while Klings started in his usual midfield role. Tula came into the game looking to get their second win of the season but they knew it was always going to be hard against a Zenit side full of stars like former Barcelona midfielder Malcolm, Russian goal machine Artem Dzuba, Dejan Lovren, and others.
Zenit dominated the early exchanges as expected with Tula just pumping the ball forward hoping it lands on Evans Kangwa.
Zenit took the lead in the 25th minute after Andrey Mostovoy slotted home from close range with a rebound after Artur Nigmatullin pallied Sardar Azmoun’s initial shot into Mostovoy’s path. Dzuba doubled the lead with a cool finish as he showed great composure to slot home Malcolm’s pass inside the area surrounded by Tula defenders.
😐Уступаем чемпиону на его арене. pic.twitter.com/ePNa7ajW1R
— ПФК «Арсенал» Тула (@pfc_arsenal) September 14, 2020
In the second half, Tula started pushing for goals with Klings coming close twice with long-range efforts. Tula finally pulled one back in the 60th minute thanks to a brilliant finish from Yuri Kovalev leaving the Zenit St Petersburg goalkeeper with no chance.
Second-half substitute Aleksandr Erokhin sealed the result 4 minutes to time with a simple finish from inside the area after being set up by former Chelsea player Yuri Zhirkov, The goal was initially ruled for offside but it later stood after consultation with VAR, 3-1 the match ended.
Tula drop to 14th place on the log while Zenit opens a 1-0 point lead at the Summit. Next for Tula is a home encounter against second-placed Sochi.
First goal by Andrey Mostovoy for Zenit, Dzyuba and Erokhin's strikes and a stunning goal by Yury Kovalev in highlights of #ZenitArsenal game 🎥#RPL pic.twitter.com/wI2ff506dS
— Russian Premier Liga (@premierliga_en) September 14, 2020
