Zaurbek Pliev (sp)(def). Roman Evgenjev (r)(def), Clinton N'Jie (sp)(att)
Dinamo Moscow had a really impressive campaign last season, playing fluent football and pushing Zenit for the top spot well into the spring, but ultimately it ended with two really hurtful loss, a 5:1 hammering by Sochi that denied them a second-place finish, and then a dramatic loss to Spartak Moscow in the Cup final.
Sandro Schwarz then announced his expected departure soon after as he returned to Germany after 18 months in which his impressionable style and attractive football made Dinamo one of the most liked teams in the country.
The squad looks mostly intact and very much the same at the start of this season but with a new man in charge in Slavisa Jokanovic. The much-travelled Serbian has a playing style pretty close to that of Schwarz but whether he has the same sort of impact remains very much a mystery.
He will hope to be able to keep hold of the likes of Arsen Zakharyan and Sebastian Szymanski along with midfield metronome Daniil Fomin. Players like Konstantin Tyukavin and Vyacheslav Grulev will look to kick on after slightly stagnating last season while having a fit and firing Daniil Lesovoy on the wing will be a big bonus too.
If all of the start players indeed stay put and there is a bit more depth added in defence, this Dynamo side has the potential to really past the pace in the title race and displace a Zenit side that looks weaker from the summit.
