Spartak Moscow-Zenit St.Petersburg
Football: Russian Premier League
Wednesday, 27th October 2010. Kickoff 17:30 CET

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Spartak Moscow

In terms of rivalry this is the second opponent for Spartak Moscow fans behind city neighbors CSKA. It could be compared to AS Roma-Juventus confrontation in Italy. Spartak is approaching this postponed fixture with a some serious injury concerns: key midfielder Alex and regular right back Parshivlyuk are unavailable. Should hosting team drop points here their chances of finishing 3rd will be written off.

Valery Karpin obviously had this match in mind on Saturday, when he fielded a semi-reserve side on the road against Sibir. Out of all players who were given a rare chance to start, only Georgian prodigy Jano excelled. He will compete with Ari, but I think Karpin prefers to play it safe and assign more physically developed Brazilian.

If Spartak had a good Russian midfielder or center back - these two would’ve been included in the starting 11 for sure. Karpin might prove me wrong and go for a 3rd most courageous option- continue with the pair of central midfielders Sheshukov-Zotov, who featured on Saturday against Sibir. In this case Ari will take the left midfield flank instead of Dmitry Kombarov and Jano shall cover for Alex under Welliton in attack.

Right back Parshivlyuk is a new entry on the injury list. His absence controversially weakens the left flank as Makeev will be covering for the team-mate with left back Andrey Ivanov stepping up from the bench.

Zenit St.Petersburg

Luciano Spalletti took 17 players to Moscow. Central midfielder Shirokov remains out with a broken toe, key striker Aleksander Kerzhakov flew with his team mates and the coaching staff will make a decision about his participation right before the match. Regular right back Anyukov is available again after missing the shocking 3-3 away draw against Anzhi on Sunday.

It is still hard to believe that Premier League’s best defense managed to concede 3 goals against a team who had an 8 (!!) match goalless streak. Anzhi’s last successful attack dated back to August and on Sunday they hit 3.
There is little doubt in my mind Luciano Spalletti will bring back goalkeeper Vyacheslav Malafeev to the starting line up. Since Anyukov is back to action, Spalletti will be deciding between Lukovic and Hubocan on the left defensive flank. Serb international looks to be in better shape now. Kerzhakov’s participation today is far from certain.

Anyway Bukharov's integration into the new team is going much smoother now. It is seriously helped by Semak, who is getting some playing time along his former Rubin team-mate. Bukharov and Danny showed good mutual understanding during the match vs. Anzhi. It should keep Spalletti more or less relaxed concerning Kerzhakov’s fitness.

Betting advice

It would be a bit premature to make any conclusions based on Zenit's 3-3 draw vs. Anzhi. After all Spalletti’s team did look traditionally strong, but just got too self-assured before the final whistle.

Spartak, on contrary, has been struggling to find their rhythm ever since Alex’s injury during the game vs. Alanya. 0-2 loss to Chelsea followed by 0-0 result in Novosibirsk illustrate obvious offensive problems in Red-White’s camp.

Spartak is on a two match goalless streak. It is no fluke that it corresponds with Alex’s injury. Brazilian’s absence is proving to be too much of a blow for Spartak’s offensive game and overall team confidence.

HANDICAP BETTING :

Take Zenit (0) to win @ 1.75 with Bet365