Andrey Arshavin will be a lot better off with Zenit, as Russian football champions are solving greater tasks that Arsenal, Lucianno Spalletti, the St. Petersburg side’s coach, believes.

­“Andrey is returning to Zenit and here he meets the situation and tasks, which are more complicated that he had at Arsenal,” Spalletti said. “Because we want to win, and as for Arsenal – we don’t know what they wanted.”

Arshavin is on loan from Arsenal until the end of the season and is expected to feature in a crucial game against CSKA on Saturday.
The 30-year-old joined the squad after helping Russia with a goal in their 2-0 win in Denmark midweek.

He has already had his first training session with Zenit, where he has spent most of his career, scoring 76 goals between 2000 and 2009.  

“It was very tough,” Arshavin confessed to Sport-Express newspaper. “They made us work hard in the gym. I didn’t expect that immediately after returning from the national team.”

Zenit’s home clash with CSKA could go some way to deciding the Russian Premier League title. The St. Pete side currently top the table, but they are only six points clear of CSKA, who are second.

“I’m eagerly awaiting this game and want to take part in it, but the final decision is, of course, to be made by the coach,” the captain of the Russian national squad said.

Arshavin lost his place in Arsenal’s starting lineup this season and decided to leave England in order to get playing practice ahead of this summer’s Euro 2012.