Looking at the markets I like the look of ‘Both Teams to Score’. In the three meetings between these two sides last season, CSKA came out on top twice although you may also recall that in the supercup a few years ago, CSKA left with deep wounds.
I saw Zenit’s pre-season matches against Basel and Sporting Lisbon where they looked good going forward and had some great combination play. Of course there is now a change of emphasis with no Hulk or Witsel but manager Mirceal Lucescu has seemingly rebuilt the side.
Although Aleksandr Kerzhakov and Oleg Shatov have looked good in these pre-season games, Artem Dzyuba has been less than impressive. And Zenit’s big problems are in defence with them conceding in virtually every game.
CSKA have changed their offensive line up with the departure of Ahmed Musa to Leicester City and they now play with Lacina Traore and Aleksei Ionov in attack.
The Muscovites have done pretty well in their pre-season friendlies, scoring in every match. I imagine Zenit will score thanks to their attacking prowess but I have little faith that they will be able to keep a clean sheet.
With this in mind ‘Both Teams to Score’ is a good option given what we have seen in the friendlies. CSKA are the favourites, however, Zenit’s new manager Lucescu will be eager to get a trophy in the cabinet early into his reign.
As previously mentioned, Zenit’s attack looks good with Kerzhakov especially looking to prove a point but they are incredibly poor at the back, so BTTS is the way to play this one.
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