CSKA Moscow vs Zenit St. Petersburg
FreeWe’re always looking for new recruits to help us so please click here if you want to find out more about the ways you can help us (e.g. local input, watching games)!
There are 9 bankers & 5 value tips in the Members Section today so feel free to sign up here to see everything + team news!
Today’s free tip is in the Russian Premier League encounter between CSKA Moscow and Zenit St. Petersburg.
With or without Azmoun, the reigning champions really should win this one. In the past, this used to be a big fixture between two teams gunning for the title. Nowadays, a title looks well out of CSKA Moscow’s grasp, and firmly within Zenit St. Petersburg’s grasp. It’s just the way things are.
Over the past few years, CSKA Moscow used to kid themselves into believing otherwise because they could; they had Vlasic. Vlasic was their hero in such games, dragging the team along behind him. Now he’s gone, they simply don’t have a player that can do that anymore. The novelty of rapid Nigerian attacker Ejuke has worn off somewhat, and although they still have many talented youngsters on their books, it’s more than fair to say that a lot of them have failed to hit their full potential despite rising to prominence some years ago now.
The most puzzling element of this club is how they made a loss of over 100 million Euros last season. I mean, they don’t spend money anymore; it’s that simple. They’re a selling club. Everybody is perpetually for sale. Covid-19’s impact on the economy led to less players leaving though, which meant ever fewer recruits joined. Again, it’s just kids, injury-prone and overrated Dzagoev, and average target man Zabolotny. It’s nothing to worry the bigger/better Russian teams, in other words.
There are elements of this team I like, of course. Fernandes is a wonderful attacking full-back, for example. Bijol is a very tidy enforcer too, and Zainutdinov has his moments. Everything feels very predictable in this group though, probably via their constant changing of managers and lack of investment. What is Berzeutskiy – manager number three of the season? Or did Goncharenko leave at the end of last season? I lose track of the time nowadays, sorry. Everything is always changing at this club though; there’s no continuity.
In short, I don’t see enough match-winners in the CSKA Moscow squad. I see lots of puzzling additions too. Keep in mind their defensive issues too. Fuchs had to wait eight months to make his debut for the team last time out, and was dismissed twenty minutes into it so he’s suspended now. With Gogoua nowhere to be seen and Magnusson out, they’re short of defenders – again. Berzeutskiy will have to get his kit on if this continues! It’s not a bad CSKA Moscow team; it’s just not a top team anymore.
Zenit St. Petersburg, however, are a top Russian team. They keep winning the title because they’ve got the most money to invest, and because they decided to make a smart managerial appointment years ago instead of throwing money at foreigners. Semak has done a sterling job since taking over there, contrary to what the upper echelons at the club believe because of the club’s failure in Europe. He’s made intelligent signings that fit his way of playing, both standout players from the Russian Premier League (no matter how dicey their methods for doing so – see the Sutormin saga for fun reading!) and from Europe. He even signed players that I thought were really overrated like Wendel, and has turned them into something very good indeed. He’s a fantastic manager, and whilst they’ve got him, they’ll continue to dominate Russian football.
Zenit St. Petersburg have lost just one meeting with CSKA Moscow from their last seventeen – and they’ve won the last five in a row. That’s not a coincidence. It’s not an accident. It’s not voodoo. It’s because the quality gap nowadays is huge, and Zenit St. Petersburg should be seriously embarrassed if they fail to beat what is essentially a mid table team. It’s just not even close anymore, especially not since Vlasic left. I’d like to think that they’d prove it again here, even with Azmoun injured, because Zenit St. Petersburg have many routes to goal, and CSKA Moscow have nothing that even remotely resembles a defence.
Dzyuba is still a beast up front. The support of overrated Malcom, Wendel, Claudinho, Erokhin, Mostovoy, and Sutormin is very good whilst Barrios sits deep and controls games. Rakitskiy and Lovren deal with most threats – as long as they’re not too fast – and both look comfortable at coming out of defence with the ball, especially the former. This team simply doesn’t have weaknesses nowadays. They’re all on the same page, they’ve got two players per position for the most part, and they’re playing for a natural winner. Why this team would stumble against CSKA Moscow’s predominantly youthful outfit, I just don’t know.
For me, the away win at 4/5 is well worth taking.
Verdict: Zenit St. Petersburg to win at 4/5.
Sunday’s Thoughts
As ever, if there are any explanations required then please feel free to post a comment! For the remainder of my thoughts on today’s games, see below, although I feel compelled to write that the below are not necessarily my tips but merely my thoughts. For confidence ratings, you’ll need to go to the members section here.
Australian A-League:
Melbourne Victory vs Brisbane Roar
Western Sydney Wanderers vs Newcastle Jets
Austrian Bundesliga:
Austria Vienna vs Sturm Graz
Hartberg vs LASK
SV Ried vs Rapid Vienna
Belgian Eerste Klasse:
Racing Genk vs Club Brugge
Zulte-Waregem vs Germinal Beerschot
AA Gent vs Standard de Liege
Antwerp vs KV Oostende
Brazilian Serie A:
Atletico Mineiro vs Fluminense
Corinthians vs Athletico Paranaense
Internacional vs Santos
Bulgarian A PFG:
Lokomotiv Sofia 1929 vs CSKA 1948 Sofia
Croatian Prva Liga:
Sibenik vs Dinamo Zagreb
Czechia Liga 1:
Hradec Kralove vs Karvina
Baumit Jablonec vs Mlada Boleslav
Slavia Prague vs Teplice
Sparta Prague vs Slovan Liberec
Danish Superligaen:
OB vs FC Nordsjaelland
Viborg vs SonderjyskE
Brondby vs Randers
Aalborg BK vs FC Copenhagen
English Premier League:
Brentford vs Everton
Burnley vs Tottenham Hotspur
Leicester City vs Watford
Manchester City vs West Ham United
Chelesa vs Manchester United
Faroese Logmanssteypid:
B36 Torshavn vs Vikingur Gota
French Ligue 1:
AS Saint-Etienne vs Paris Saint-Germain
Girondins de Bordeaux vs Stade Brestois
Lorient vs Stade Rennais
AS Monaco vs Racing Club Strasbourg
Stade de Reims vs Clermont Foot 38
Montpellier HSC vs Olympique Lyonnais
Olympique de Marseille vs Troyes
German Bundesliga:
Eintracht Frankfurt vs Union Berlin
RB Leipzig vs Bayer 04 Leverkusen
German Bundesliga 2:
Hamburger SV vs Ingolstadt
Paderborn 07 vs Hansa Rostock
Nurnberg vs St. Pauli
Hungarian Liga 1:
Debreceni VSC vs Paksi SE
Puskas FC vs Zalaegerszegi TE
Mezokovesd-Zsory vs Ferencvaros
Israeli Ligat Ha’al:
Hapoel Haifa vs Maccabi Tel-Aviv
Hapoel Tel-Aviv vs Maccabi Haifa
Italian Serie A:
Udinese vs Genoa
AC Milan vs Sassuolo
Spezia vs Bologna
AS Roma vs Torino (
SSC Napoli vs SS Lazio
Italian Serie B:
Como vs Parma
Lithuanian A Lyga:
Zalgiris Vilnius vs Dziugas Telsiai
Suduva Marijampole vs Dainava
FK Panevezys vs Hegelmann Litauen
Nevezis vs Riteriai
Kauno Zalgiris vs Banga Gargzdai
Dutch Eredivisie:
Sparta Rotterdam vs AFC Ajax Amsterdam
FC Twente Enschede vs Feyenoord Rotterdam
FC Utrecht vs Heracles Almelo
SC Heerenveen vs PSV Eindhoven
Vitesse Arnhem vs AZ Alkmaar
Norwegian Eliteserien:
Haugesund vs Sandefjord
Kristiansund vs Viking Stavanger
Mjondalen vs Sarpsborg 08
Rosenborg BK vs Bodo/Glimt
Tromso vs Stabaek
Brann Bergen vs Molde FK
Portuguese Liga 1:
Maritimo Funchal vs Pacos de Ferreira
Sporting Clube de Portugal vs Tondela
FC Porto vs Vitoria Guimaraes
Portuguese Liga 2:
Feirense vs FC Porto II
Rio Ave vs CD Nacional de Madeira
Leixoes Matosinhos vs Trofense
Academica de Coimbra vs Sporting Covilha
Romanian Liga 1:
Botosani vs FC Voluntari
Universitatea Craiova vs FCSB
Russian Premier League:
FK Nizhnyi Novgorod vs Krylya Sovetov Samara
Rubin Kazan vs Dinamo Moscow
CSKA Moscow vs Zenit St. Petersburg
Spanish Primera Liga:
Real Betis Balompie vs Levante
RCD Espanyol vs Real Sociedad
Cadiz vs Atletico Madrid
Real Madrid vs Sevilla CF
Swedish Allsvenskan:
Degerfors vs IFK Norrkoping
Djurgarden vs Varberg
IFK Goteborg vs Ostersunds FK
Halmstad vs Hammarby
Kalmar FF vs Malmo FF
Swiss Super League:
FC Zurich vs Young Boys Bern
Lausanne Sport vs Servette
Luzern vs FC Basel
Turkish Super Lig:
Gaziantep FK vs Konyaspor
Fatih Karagumruk vs Trabzonspor
Sivasspor vs Hatayspor
Yeni Malatyaspor vs Galatasaray
Enjoy your free betting tips!