Despite the coronavirus pandemic having shut down football almost everywhere else in the world, the Belarusian top flight enters gameweek four this weekend, with Gorodeya hosting Dinamo Minsk.
Both sides have made underwhelming starts to the season with three points from as many games so far, although they each enjoyed those solitary victories last time out.
Match preview
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Quite how the Belarusian top flight is still going beggars belief, but Dinamo Minsk boss Sergey Gurenko will know that the controversy around it will not hold up as an excuse for their start to the campaign.
The seven-time champions have not finished outside the top four in any of the last 12 seasons, but come into this match 13th in the early standings for 2019-20.
Defeat to newly-promoted Ruh Brest on the opening day certainly did not bode well for them, and more misery was to follow as they were beaten by Minsk in the derby - failing to recover from a nightmare first half in which they conceded three times.
Dinamo finally got up and running against Torpedo BelAZ last time out, winning 2-0 to end a six-game losing streak across all competitions.
That was only Dinamo's second win in their last 12 top-flight games too, and how they fare in Saturday's match may therefore provide us with a more accurate answer as to whether they have now turned the corner following a dreadful run of form.
If they are to do that then they will need to end a six-game winless run away from home which stretches back to September, including an ongoing streak of three successive defeats which has seen them ship 10 goals.
Dinamo were beaten on their last visit to Gorodeya's Stadyen Haradzeya too, although Saturday's hosts do not exactly boast a daunting record of late in front of their own fans.
Oleg Radushko's side have lost their last two home league outings, including a 2-0 defeat to Shakhtyor in their only one of the current campaign so far.
Gorodeya have not lost three successive home games since being promoted to the top flight in 2015 but will need to show more in the final third if they are to avoid that fate this weekend.
The 14th-placed side have netted just once in their last four league games and have only scored more than once in a single game on two occasions in their last 14 outings.
Gorodeya form: LLW
Dinamo Minsk form: LLW
Head To Head
Dinamo have won five of the last nine meetings between these two sides, although Gorodeya came out on top the last time they faced off last August.
That 3-1 triumph is one of three Gorodeya victories in the last nine editions of this fixture, with the remaining contest ending all square.
We say: Gorodeya 0-1 Dinamo Minsk
The visitors have got off to a slow start this season, but they will be hoping that the victory last time out is the catalyst to kickstart their campaign. The visitors have the superior squad and should have enough to come out on top against a Gorodeya side that has made a similarly sluggish start to the campaign.
Barney Corkhill
