Zenit Petersburg – Celtic Prediction & Preview and Betting Tips (22.02.2018)

Zenit St. Petersburg and Celtic meet, in a return match of this phase of the UEFA Europa League (16th Finals), after in the first leg Celtic won at home by (1-0). Attention to the home factor, as the Zenit St. Petersburg usually conquer different results at home and abroad.

Zenit St. Petersburg:

After the defeat in the first leg, the home team arrives at this disadvantaged match at a disadvantage, since they need to recover 1 goal from a disadvantage and have not scored any goals in the previous match. This is a team that usually makes good use of the home advantage, stronger with the help of its supporters, since in the last 30 matches they register 4 wins, 8 draws and 3 losses in away matches, with 18 goals scored and 12 conceded; against 11 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses at their stadium, with 36 goals scored and 11 suffered. Zenit St. Petersburg won 4 and lost 1 of their last 5 home matches for the UEFA Europa League.

For this competition, record a sequence of 4 victories in their last home matches. The team has conceded goals in 8 of the last 10 matches, so they have not displayed great defensive solidity, but their offense has scored consistently, as they have scored goals in 7 of the last 10 matches for this competition. In 11 games in this competition, he never got the comeback in the 4 games in which he suffered the first goal.

Zenit St. Petersburg returns to play at home, just after having seen their sequence of invincibility interrupted, which lasted nine games since the beginning of December last year. In that period, he accumulated seven victories, but the five occurred in 2018 were all in friendly, since he still awaits the return of the Russian Championship, which restarts at the beginning of March. After qualifying for the 16th-finals of the Europa League in the leadership of Group L, undefeated and with the best attack of the competition, the team failed to maintain the same good performance and ended up suffering a defeat for the minimum score at Celtic’s home. Thus, the Russians face a mission perfectly possible to realize, since a simple victory already takes the decision to the penalties. The 4-3-3 must be the tactical system adopted for this duel, with highlight for Rigoni in the attack.

Celtic:

The away team comes to this second leg with an advantage of 1 goal, but suffered 0 goals at home in the first leg. This is a team that usually shows similar results, at home and abroad. It is usually not affected by the home team, since in the last 30 matches they register 9 wins, 2 draws and 4 losses in away matches; against 10 wins, 3 draws and 2 losses at their stadium. In the last match they played, for the Premier League, they tied with home St. Johnstone by (0-0). In the last 10 away matches Celtic has won 5, tied 2 and lost 3. Their attack has scored regularly, since they have scored goals in 7 of the last 10 matches.

Celtic enter the field away from home after three consecutive exhibitions before his fans, which must be satisfied with the recent performance of the club, since it accumulates only one defeat in the last twelve games, adding nine wins in that period. Now, the visiting team comes from a home draw against Saint Johnstone for the Scottish championship, in which it occupies the lead, nine points ahead of the classified. The Celtic is one of the clubs that came to the Europa League after being eliminated from the UEFA Champions League, which was perfectly understandable in the case of the Scottish team, since it had in its group Paris Saint Germain and Bayern from Munich. In the first leg, against Zenit St Petersburg, the team achieved a victory by the minimum score and can now even draw to move forward in the continental tournament. It is expected that in this match the coach will organize the team in 3-5-1-1, with highlight for McGregor in the offensive sector.