Group F is the only Europa League group without a goal so far – something that these two teams will try to sort out on Thursday night.
After a fantastic start to the season, Lokomotiv Moscow have tailed off in recent weeks – winning just once in their last five competitive outings. Having said that, they are still second in the Russian Premier League.
The Railroaders have been beset by injuries this season, particularly in the forward line, and it is no surprise that they have scored over 1.5 goals in just one of their last five games. Defensively though, they are relatively solid with just 10 goals conceded in 11 league games and two clean sheets in their last four matches.
Yuri Semin’s side are generally decent at home and they have taken 12 points from a possible 18 in their six league matches at Stadion Lokomotiv this term. However, it is certainly worth pointing out that they have struggled to find the back of the net on their own patch – scoring over 1.5 goals in just one of their six league outings at home. Lokomotiv are a bit inconsistent in Europe and they have not had back-to-back Europa League home wins since the 2011/12 season. Having said that, they are huge favourites here and will feel they ought to take all three points.
FK Zlin are in their first ever European campaign and managed to take a point against Moldovan side Sheriff Tiraspol in their first group match. However, they really needed to win that match if they wanted to have any chance of progressing to the knockout stages. Furthermore, they are not having the best of times domestically and currently sit eighth in the HET liga.
Much like Lokomotiv, Bohumil Panik’s men struggle in the final third – demonstrated by the fact they have averaged just 0.8 goals per game in the league so far. However, there have been small signs of life in the Zlin frontline recently with at least one goal scored in each of their last three league outings. Again like Lokomotiv, Zlin look fairly good at the back and have conceded over 1.5 goals on just one occasion in their last five competitive outings.
Given their relatively small achievements in the game, this is arguably the biggest away match that Sevci have ever played. Unfortunately for them though, the statistics do not make good reading for their upcoming trip to Moscow with four losses out of their four competitive away games so far this season.
Although Lokomotiv are the favourites here, I am not expecting a thrashing. Zlin will undoubtedly look to soak up pressure and an impotent Lokomotiv may find them hard to break down. This will probably be quite a boring game with very few goals but I do expect the Russian side to come out on top in the end. Lokomotiv Moscow to Win and Under 2.5 Goals is very well priced at 21/10.