Zenit St. Petersburg vs RB Leipzig Prediction, Betting Tips and Preview
Zenit St. Petersburg take on RB Leipzig in Europa League action this Thursday. Read the match predictions to find out why a home win is the betting tip at the Krestovsky Stadium.
FK Zenit St. Petersburg v RB Leipzig TIPS
Odds updated regularly. Odds may be delayed.
Zenit St. Petersburg vs RB Leipzig Preview
Zenit come into this second leg of the Europa League last 16 at a disadvantage after suffering a 2-1 defeat away to Leipzig last week. However, their situation would have been much worse should Domenico Criscito not have found the net with an excellent free kick in the 86th minute. That away goal could prove vital in whether or not they progress to the next round and Roberto Mancini’s side will fancy their chances on home turf where they are unbeaten in their last eleven matches. What is perhaps more impressive is that Zenit have only lost one of their last 25 matches at home in the Europa League.
Emanuel Mammana will not feature on Thursday after suffering a knee injury against FK Rostov at the weekend. The defender will be a big miss and Mancini will probably opt to replace him with Branislav Ivanovic. Leandro Paredes is set to return to the squad after completing his suspension which will give Mancini the option of switching to a 4-3-3 formation in order to pick up goals. Right-back duo Denis Terentjev and Alexander Anyukov are both unlikely to be named in the squad due to injury.
RB Leipzig will be frustrated that they couldn’t hold onto a clean sheet in last weeks first leg. If they had done, then a goal on Thursday for the visitors would have meant Zenit would need to put at least four past them in order to be in with a chance of progressing. However, Ralph Hasenhüttl’s side still have the advantage going into Thursday’s match but he’ll be looking for an improved performance given that his team has only managed to pick up two wins from their last seven on the road. It’s a stat that will unnerve Leipzig fans and tightening up at the back will be their main priority. In the Bundesliga this season, Leipzig have conceded just 7 goals and hold the best defensive record in the league. However, away from home they have conceded 19 proving that they struggle when on their travels.
Ralph Hasenhüttl has no new injury concerns but Marcel Halstenberg remains out and Ademola Lookman is ineligible to play. Hasenhüttl is expected to start with the same eleven that lined up against Zenit last week in the hope of a repeat victory.
Zenit St. Petersburg vs RB Leipzig Betting Tips
- Zenit St. Petersburg have won 5 drawn 3 and lost 2 of their last 10 matches
- RB Leipzig have won 4 drawn 3 and lost 3 of their last 10 matches
- Over the course of their previous 10 matches, Zenit St. Petersburg have scored an average of 1.7 goals and conceded an average of 0.6 goals per game
- Over the course of their previous 10 matches, RB Leipzig have scored an average of 1.2 goals and conceded an average of 1 goals per game
- There have been over 2.5 goals scored in 5 of Zenit St. Petersburg’s previous 10 matches
- There have been over 2.5 goals scored in 4 of RB Leipzig ’s previous 10 matches
Zenit St. Petersburg vs RB Leipzig Prediction
There’s no clear favourite in this match but with RB Leipzig’s leaky defence when away from home, we expect Zenit to find the net. Given that Leipzig conceded the late goal in the first leg, they can’t afford to sit back and it’s likely the visitors will aim to get on the scoresheet also. Both teams to score definitely has value and we can see this being a very open match. Zenit have an excellent record at home and have only lost one of their last 25 matches in the Europa League on home turf. The home advantage could play a huge part in this game which is why we’re edging towards a 2-1 win for Zenit.
Team Lineups
| Zenit St Petersburg | RasenBallsport Leipzig |
|---|---|
| 4-3-3 | 4-4-2 |
| Goalkeeper | |
| Andrey Lunev |
Peter Gulacsi |
| Defenders | |
| Igor Smolnikov Miha Mevlja Domenico Criscito Branislav Ivanovic |
Willi Orban Dayot Upamecano Bernardo Lukas Klostermann |
| Midfielders | |
| Yuri Zhirkov Matias Kranevitter Leandro Daniel Paredes |
Naby Keita Bruma Emil Forsberg Diego Demme |
| Forwards | |
| Emiliano Ariel Rigoni Aleksandr Kokorin Sebastian Driussi |
Timo Werner Jean-Kevin Augustin |
| Substitutes | |
| Yuri Lodigin Dmitri Pletnev Yegor Baburin Ilya Skrobotov Dmitry Poloz Aleksandr Yerokhin Anton Zabolotny |
Stefan Ilsanker Dominik Kaiser Yvon Mvogo Konrad Laimer Ibrahima Konate Kevin Kampl Yussuf Poulsen |
| Coach | |
| Roberto Mancini |
Ralph Hasenhuettl |
RECENT Head To Head
Europe League
Head to Head Statistics
Last1 matches
| Zenit St Petersburg | RasenBallsport Leipzig |
|---|---|
| Wins | |
| 0 | 1 |
| Corners | |
| 0 | 0 |
| Fouls | |
| 0 | 0 |
| Shots | |
| 0 | 0 |
| Shots on Target | |
| 0 | 0 |
| Yellow Cards | |
| 0 | 0 |
| Red Cards | |
| 0 | 0 |
These two sides first met last week in the first leg of this Europa League round where RB Leipzig emerged as winners with a 2-1 victory. After a goalless first half, Leipzig when two goals ahead thanks to Armindo Bruma and Timo Werner. Zenit did manage to pull one back four minutes from time via Domenico Criscito, giving the visitors a valuable away goal going into the return fixture on Thursday.
LiveZenit St Petersburg vRasenBallsport Leipzig Updates
| in Anton Zabolotny out Aleksandr Kokorin | 8' |
|
| 10' | Diego Demme | |
| 22' | Jean-Kevin Augustin | |
| 25' | Willi Orban | |
| Domenico Criscito | 38' |
|
| Sebastian Driussi | 45' |
|
| 46' | out Willi Orban in Ibrahima Konate | |
| Igor Smolnikov | 62' |
|
| 71' | out Diego Demme in Stefan Ilsanker | |
| Miha Mevlja | 81' |
|
| out Igor Smolnikov in Dmitry Poloz | 85' |
|
| in Aleksandr Yerokhin out Emiliano Ariel Rigoni | 90' |
|
| 90' | in Yussuf Poulsen out Jean-Kevin Augustin |
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