Zenit St Petersburg vs Slavia Prague Prediction and Match Preview

Aron Wright - October 2, 2018

Zenit St Petersburg vs Slavia Prague
UEFA Europa League
Date: Thursday, 4 October 2018
Kick-Off at 17:55 UK / 18:55 CET
Venue: Saint-Petersburg Stadium (St. Petersburg).

Zenit will be hoping to bounce back from a shocking 2-1 defeat to the struggling Anzhi side at the weekend. It was just the second loss in last 12 matches across competitions for the Lions who generally got off to a scintillating start to the new campaign in domestic league.

Sergei Semak has been doing a phenomenal job ever since taking charge this summer. The Lions are still three points clear at the top of the Premier League standings in spite of the mentioned failure away at Anzhi. They bagged a superb ten-goal tally in four home matches so far in the season and they’ll come into this off the back of five wins and a draw in last six home outings.

The streak includes a demolishing 8-1 victory over the Belarusian side Dinamo Minsk (the famous comeback after Zenit fell 4-0 in the first leg). Semak’s men bagged three or more goals in four of last five matches across competitions and avoiding a defeat will certainly be an uphill battle for their rivals Slavia Prague in this second round tie.

Zenit St Petersburg vs Slavia Prague: Head-to-head

• The two teams met each other just once in the past.
• Interestingly, the clash happened this January in mid-season when Zenit picked up a demolishing 5-1 victory.
• Russian teams have a positive H2H record when playing Czech opposition at home (3 wins and 1 loss).

Zenit St Petersburg vs Slavia Prague: Prediction

Slavia also enjoyed a thrilling beginning of the season in their domestic league. They picked up eight wins in nine games before the weekend’s loss to Banik Ostrava. It still let them at the top, but they are now level on points with the defending champions Viktoria Plzen after nine rounds.

Hvezdy got off to a promising start to the Europa League campaign. They saw off French Bordeaux 1-0 at home on the opening day thanks to a first half goal from Jaromir Zmrhal. The defeat to Banik ended their six-win streak.

Zenit need a three-pointer here to gain the pole position in the Group C before back-to-back fixtures with Bordeaux. Knowing that Slavia will likely be without both of their important strikers Stanislav Tecl and Milan Skoda, we see the value in backing the home win at the odds of 1.80. You can also back the hosts to net two or more goals at 1.83.

Zenit St Petersburg vs Slavia Prague: Bet Tips

• Zenit to win @ 1.80 (4/5)

• Zenit Over 1.5 Team Goals @ 1.83 (5/6).

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