Zenit St. Petersburg v Rubin Kazan Betting Tips: Goals at Krestovsky Stadium

17:00, 21 jul 2017
17:00, 21 jul 2017
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These two former Russian Premier League champions have been starved of success in the last couple of years, however, they have overhauled their squads this summer in a quest for glory.

Zenit have spent €44m in this window as they look to claim their first Russian league title since 2015 as well as Champions League football; which they have now missed out on for the past two seasons. Roberto Mancini’s first match in charge of Zenit ended in a reasonably comfortable 2-0 win away at SKA Khabarovsk in the Far East.

The Blue, White and Navys’ frontline looks sublime with Dmitry Poloz and Sebastian Driussi arriving in this window to supplement the likes of Artem Dzyuba and Giuliano. There is little doubt that Zenit have the best set of forwards in the division. However, although they kept a clean sheet in Khabarovsk, there are still question marks over the defence. Highly-rated defensive midfielder Leandro Paredes has arrived from Roma but, other than that, the defensive third of the side still lacks quality and depth which could be exploited against the better teams in both Russia and Europe.

After numerous problems in its construction and initial Zenit games last season, the new Krestovsky Stadium managed to be used at the recent Confederations Cup without too many problems. The stadium cannot afford to have any further errors this campaign as Zenit’s original stadium at Petrvosky is now being used by newly-promoted FC Tosno. In their two matches at Krestovsky last term, Zenit won one and lost one so it is hard to judge home form at the moment. However, there will no doubt be a bumper crowd for this match on Saturday which should help the hosts.

Just like last season, there is a lot expected of Rubin Kazan this campaign after bringing in a new manager and overhauling their squad. However, unlike last term, Rubin have gone with a more intelligent approach. They have brought in club legend Kurban Berdyev as coach, who won two titles with Rubin in 2008 and 2009, and he, in turn, has brought in players with vast experience of the Russian Premier League. Having said that, despite all the excitement surrounding Rubin at the moment, they still lost their opening match of the season at home to Krasnodar.

Kurban Berdyev has always prioritised defensive solidity over attacking prowess – a method which has always brought success to his teams. However, that recent loss to Krasnodar could have shocked the system a bit so it will be interesting to see how they approach this match against Zenit. If they sit back at Krestovsky, then they will invite too much pressure from the best forward line in the division. On the other hand, if they push forward, they could be heavily punished.

The Tartars were decent on their travels towards the back end of the last campaign with just one defeat in their final five away games. However, it is worth noting that Kurban Berdyev has lost his last two away matches to Zenit – both with FC Rostov and both by 3-0 scorelines.

Mancini will be determined to get a win under his belt in his debut at Krestovsky and, looking at the squads, there is a reason why they are favourites here. However, you can never write off a Kurban Berdyev side, so, with this in mind, I have gone for the result-neutral bet of Over 2.5 Goals Total at 24/25.

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