Renowned Ukrainian coach Oleksandr Babych believes that despite the large number of leaders in the current Ukrainian league after the first part of the season, only two teams - Dynamo Kyiv and Shakhtar Donetsk - will eventually compete for the gold medal.
- The opener of this season is Rukh. I would even call this team one of the leaders of the UPL. "Rukh can take points from anyone now, they are sixth in the standings and have a good margin of victory to take the lead in the spring. Much will depend on the winter break, on how Rukh strengthens its squad. It will also be very important for Dnipro-1 to retain Pikhalenko.
I believe that even in the best-case scenario with regard to winter strengthening, Kryvbas, Dnipro-1, Polissia and Rukh will fight for third place. "Dynamo and Shakhtar will still take their chances - the higher class and experience of the Kyiv team and the Miners will be evident over a long distance," FootBoom quotes Babych as saying.