One of the final matches in Group D sees group winners Zenit St. Petersburg travel to Alkmaar to take on AZ who currently sit second but probably need a win in order to ensure qualification to the knockout rounds given the tight nature of this group.
If you watched the AZ’s second match of the Europa League Group Stage in which they lost 5-0 to Thursday’s opponents Zenit St. Petersburg in Russia, nobody would blame you for thinking they were destined for elimination. However, the Dutch side have managed to revive their campaign somewhat with their vital win against Dundalk last time out putting them in pole position. Having said that, they have hardly been convincing, managing to only draw and then lose to Maccabi Tel Aviv before beating Irish minnows Dundalk by just a 1-0 scoreline.
Conversely, they are currently doing quite well in their domestic league at the moment and are undefeated in their last five matches, putting them fifth in the table. Unfortunately, there always seems to be a negative with AZ and that negative right now is that they have drawn too many matches (three in five) whilst they have kept just one clean sheet in their last nine Eredivisie games.
Welcoming group winners Zenit St. Petersburg will of course be a daunting task for John van den Brom’s side but they will take confidence from their excellent home form which shows just one loss (a 4-2 defeat against PSV Eindhoven in April) in the entire of 2016 in all competitions.
The prolonged Russian winter break starts for Zenit immediately after this match which means they will not play any Russian Premier League matches until March next year. With Group D already wrapped up in style, you might expect Zenit to rest a few players for this match in Alkmaar, however, judging by photos of training sessions, it looks like most of the key players will travel to Holland.
Having said that, Mircea Lucescu’s team are flying out a day later than usual which shows the relaxed attitude towards this match with AZ.
Zenit are currently looking good in the Russian Premier League and are sitting in second, five points behind faltering leaders Spartak. However, going into this match away at AZ, away form has not been very good for the Blue, White Navy’s with just one win in their last five matches outside of St. Petersburg.
Although I would usually back Zenit, I think AZ should get a result here. Even if their major players to travel for Zenit, they will already have their flip flops on and looking forward to a nice break away from the harsh Russian winter, rather than focusing on a dead rubber. Add AZ’s home record into this and odds of 13/10 on an AZ win look very attractive.
Even though they will not be fully focused on the game, Zenit are an incredible powerhouse going forward and I expect them to score against an AZ side who have trouble keeping clean sheets. Add a likely positive result for AZ into this and we arrive at Both Teams to Score which is another bet worth being on at 10/11.
See more tips here.