Russian League
2010-11-10 - Zenit St. Petersburg vs CSKA Moscow
A Sports Betting Pick by Pantocrator
Football : Russian : Premier League
Wednesday, 10th November 2010. Kickoff 17:00 CET
Zenit St.Petersburg
Zenit is one step away from Russian Premier League title and that step is a home victory against CSKA Moscow on Wednesday in the postponed fixture.
Luciano Spalletti's team surely wants to lift the trophy in front of home supporters and the opportunity to do it against 2nd best team in the country only adds more motivation. Shirokov and Hubocan remain injured, while important midfielder Ziryanov is suspended.
Ziryanov's suspension means Spalletti is without 2 regular attacking midfielders for one of the most important games of the season. Shirokov and Zyrianov are vital for the 4-1-4-1 formation, so most likely it will be updated to 4-2-3-1 with Semak helping Denisov in the center.
Danny shall move from the left flank into the attacking midfielder position and Lazovic will cover for the Portuguese star on the left. Zenit's # 10 is looking incredibly productive lately and is the main reason behind fantastic 8 scored goals in last 2 league's fixtures.
One of the possible problems for Spalletti in the upcoming match might be the level of CSKA's football. It is a totally different world from what Hajduk Split, Alanya or Sibir could offer Zenit.
The 0-1 loss to Spartak showed Spalletti's team is far from perfect and can simply be overplayed by a strong opponent.
CSKA Moscow
CSKA faces a very difficult schedule in the last weeks of Russian Premier League season and will need to overcome the likes of Zenit and arch-rivals Spartak if they're to beat Rubin to the 2nd place.
The runners-up spot remains CSKA Moscow's main target as they set eyes on automatic qualification to next years champions league group stage. Right back Alexey Berezutsky is the only casualty for Leonid Slutsky ahead of the match as Seidou Doumbia and Kirill Nababkin return to selection.
Alexey Berezutsky made an unexpected return from injury at the week-end but couldn't avoid being sidelined for this extremely important fixture. Fortunately for Leonid Slutsky has served his 1 match suspension and can cover the right defensive flank.
CSKA is coming off a disappointing 4-3 home victory against Krylia Sovetov where they were bossed around for most of the time but still recorded a valuable victory. CSKA's level of football at the week-end was a real revelation, especially after stunning performances in Europa League and in recent Premier League fixtures.
Leonid Slutsky is complaining about intense schedule, his players fatigue and temporary loss of concentration. Well, he had only 2 days to fix these problems.
Slutsky will most likely continue with Tomas Necid in attack since the Czech youngster is showing great form lately. Doumbia, just after an injury, should start from the bench. With Necid upfront, Vagner Love will drop deeper into the midfield zone to give CSKA's build-up play more pace.
A lot of activity will be seen on the left wing where Gonzalez is the second man to watch after Necid.
Betting advice
These teams played an incredibly peculiar 1st leg match in Moscow. CSKA just walked around the pitch aimlessly showing no interest in the proceedings. It was, beyond any doubt, the worst game ever under Leonid Slutsky.
I am still puzzled about the reasons behind CSKA's immense underperformance back then. At the same time, with Zenit's impressive administrative resources no one should be amazed by such things.
This said, I'd suggest to stay away from side betting and concentrate on the goal line. 2.25 limit can well be beaten if teams continue to show the same type of football as in the past weeks.
Gooner’s Statistical Value Bet
