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Team ranking last season
Zenit’s 2022/2023 season went quite well – Sergei Semak’s team again became champions of the country, and the gap between St. Petersburg and CSKA Moscow, who took second place, turned out very important – 12 points. But the players from the northern capital quickly completed their performance in the Russian Cup, flying to the 1/16 finals of the Chemin des Régions.
“Neftchi” was not so successful – in the championship of Azerbaijan, tankers took only third place in the standings, trailing compatriots from “Sabah” by 13 points and the champion represented by ” Karabakh” by 22 points. In the Azerbaijan Cup, the Baku team reached the final, but there, despite the status of favorites, they lost to Gabala from the city of the same name. Thus, the past season did not bring trophies to the fans of the capital club.
Team performance
In the Russian Premier League, Zenit had both the best attack and the best defense. On average, the “blue-white-blue” scored 2.46 goals per game, conceding only 0.66 goals – it is impossible to argue with anyone in Russia with such indicators at the moment.
“Neftchi” can also boast of his attack – the club from the Azerbaijani capital scored an average of 1.75 goals per game last season. But the defense against the bottom of St. Petersburg and the two best compatriot teams does not seem so impenetrable – the average “oil workers” conceded 1.05 goals each.
Estimated compositions
“Zenith” (4-3-3): Kerzhakov – Karavaev, Rodrigao, Renan, Santos – Kuzyaev, Barrios, Claudinho – Malcolm, Cassiera, Mostovoy
“Neftchi” (5-3-2): Brkich – Kverkvelia, Zulfugarly, Sayea, Bouludov, Stankovich, Makhmudov – Seif, Kaber, Israfilov – Lebon, Saldanya
Forecasts
At the end of the season, the defense of “Zenith” ceased to look reliable – in the last seven matches only “Torch” failed to find weaknesses in the defense of the Russian champion. As we said earlier, “Neftchi” looked quite convincing in attack. If you look at the last games, he scored in six out of eight fights (75%), which is a very good result. At the same time, it must be taken into account that this is largely a friendly tournament, which means that the favorite can play relaxed, allowing the guests to excel. Of course, it should also be recognized that the Blue-White-Blues regularly score in front of their fans and in the game against the not so strong Neftchi they will certainly reach the goal. Therefore, the exchange of scored goals seems quite logical.
Prediction: “Both score” for 1.95.
From May, when it became clear to everyone that Zenit would become the champions, Semak’s team seemed to go into economy mode. Since then, his wards have played five matches and won only two. Obviously, in all matches Zenit was the favorite, but even in this status it is not always easy to win – both won matches ended with a minimal difference in the score, that is -to say that it is not necessary to speak of a confident superiority in this situation.
At the same time, in no way can it be said that Neftchi whips the boys. If we take a segment from February this year, the team from the Azerbaijani capital played as many as 20 games and lost only four – that says a lot. If we evaluate the defeats in more detail, we can see that exactly half of them were minimal, in one case – the score difference was two goals, in the other – four. So, only once in the last 20 games Baku team failed the match, losing without any chance. At the same time, logic suggests that with the friendly status of the tournament, Azerbaijani footballers might be more eager to give their all – after all, it’s not every day that they play against such prominent rivals. than Russian champion Zenit. Therefore, the assumption that the “Pari Premier Cup” for “Zenith” will not start with an easy march for him, has good reason.
Prediction: “Neftchi” will start with a handicap of 2 goals for 1.75
Stavka.tv specially for Athletistic
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Source: Sport
I’m Scott Moore, a professional writer and journalist based in the US. I’ve been writing for various publications for over 8 years now, and have been working as an author at athletistic for the past five years. My work has been featured by some of the leading sports websites and magazines across Europe.
