Zenit St Petersburg v Samara Kryliya Sovetov match preview

By: j | August 23rd, 2008

What do you say after the defending champions get absolutely rearranged by a lower-table club when you’re expecting them to stampede back into contention. That’s precisely what happened last week with Zenit Saint Petersburg when Shinnik humbled them at home 3-1. This week is a whole new issue because Samara Kryliya Sovetov is in-line for a European bid and is a beast at home.

Recent Form
Zenit Saint Petersburg – combined (2 W, 1 D, 2 L)(7 GA, 9 GS)
Jul 30 CSKA Moscow 0 – 0 Zenit St Petersburg
Aug 2 Zenit St Petersburg 2 – 1 FC Moscow
Aug 10 Rubin Kazan 4 – 1 Zenit St Petersburg
Aug 13 Zenit St Petersburg 3 – 1 Terek Grozny
Aug 17 Zenit St Petersburg 1 – 3 Shinnik Yaroslav

Zenit Saint Petersburg – away (1 W,2 D,2 L)(5 GA, 6 GS)
Jul 13 Khimki 1 – 4 Zenit St Petersburg
Jul 16 Luch-Energiya Vladivostok 0 – 0 Zenit St Petersburg
Jul 26 Dynamo Moscow 1 – 0 Zenit St Petersburg
Jul 30 CSKA Moscow 0 – 0 Zenit St Petersburg
Aug 10 Rubin Kazan 4 – 1 Zenit St Petersburg

Samara Kryliya Sovetov – combined (2 W, 3 D, 0 L)(7 GA, 1 GS)
Jul 19 Spartak Nalchik 1 – 1 Samara Kryliya Sovetov
Jul 30 Samara Kryliya Sovetov 4 – 0 Saturn Moscow Oblast
Aug 3 CSKA Moscow 0 – 0 Samara Kryliya Sovetov
Aug 9 Samara Kryliya Sovetov 2 – 0 Lokomotiv Moscow
Aug 16 Luch-Energiya Vladivostok 0 – 0 Samara Kryliya Sovetov

Samara Kryliya Sovetov – home (3 W, 2 D, 0 L)(11 GA, 3 GS)
May 2 Samara Kryliya Sovetov 2 – 0 Amkar Perm’
May 11 Samara Kryliya Sovetov 1 – 1 Spartak Moscow
Jul 5 Samara Kryliya Sovetov 2 – 2 FK Rubin Kazan
Jul 30 Samara Kryliya Sovetov 4 – 0 Saturn Moscow Oblast
Aug 9 Samara Kryliya Sovetov 2 – 0 Lokomotiv Moscow

Samara Kryliya Sovetov counter-attacking flourish with the Yevgeny Savin and Jan Koller striker and working perfect with Anton Bober, Ruslan Adzhindzhal and Oleg Ivanov. In fact, perfect is a good term because they’ve allowed only one goal in the last five matches and showing highly disciplined play. Zenit on the other-hand, is a star-studded cast that through fatigue, a ridiculous schedule and the constant distraction of the Andrei Arshavin saga, has seen their season collapse. However with Anatoliy Tymoschuk, Viktor Faitzulin, Igor Denisov and Konstantin Zyryanov in the midfield with the striking trio of Pavel Pogrebniak, Fatih Tekke and Andrei Arshavin they can break out of a slump fast.

Don’t miss this great match later today.