Zenit St. Petersburg v FC Utrecht Betting Tips: Home side to overcome first leg deficit

The first leg of this Europa League tie produced a bit of an upset as FC Utrecht beat 2008 UEFA Cup champions Zenit St. Petersburg 1-0.

Although they lost the away leg last week, Zenit will still feel that they can qualify from this round as they are clearly the better side on paper. However, the fact they did not score an away goal in Holland could come back to haunt them.

Roberto Mancini’s side recovered from that Europa League defeat to record a 1-0 win away at Amkar Perm at the weekend. The Italian manager has often witnessed his side score a barrage of goals since taking over in June with Zenit having found the back of the net ten times in the space of three games at one point. However, they have struggled a bit up top recently with just one goal scored in their last 180 minutes of football in all competitions. Having said that, Zenit’s defence, which has looked shaky for a number of months, now seems to be more organised with two clean sheets in their last two league outings.

Nine of those aforementioned ten goals scored came on home soil for Zenit and they currently have a 100% record in the league at the Zenit Arena. They did have a slip-up against Israeli side Bnei Yehuda in the Europa League a couple of weeks ago – something that will give Utrecht hope – but it must be mentioned that Zenit had won the first leg of that tie 2-0 so concentration levels were not at their highest for the return leg in St. Petersburg.

Utrecht are currently on a great run with back-to-back victories in their last three outings and no defeats in their seven competitive matches this season. However, Zenit away is undoubtedly the toughest match of the campaign so far.

The Eredivisie side were fantastic at both ends of the pitch in that recent trio of victories with six goals scored and none conceded. Unfortunately though, they have had a bit of a goal drought in the Europa League – averaging just one goal per game in this season’s European campaign.

Erik ten Hag’s men are currently undefeated on their travels in all competitions this term and won their last away match 3-0 at ADO Den Haag. However, they had failed to win their two away matches prior to that 3-0 victory – suggesting they generally struggle on the road.

Additionally, although Utrecht are generally in good form at the moment, one thing that will concern them coming into Thursday’s match is their away form in the Europa League – the Dutch side have failed to win away from Stadion Galgenwaard in the competition since 2010.

Despite Utrecht’s good form this campaign, their poor away record in European football makes them even more of an underdog than they usually would be against this strong Zenit side. Mancini’s men have improved significantly at the back in the last few weeks and I expect them to be professional enough to not concede the away goal – giving them the platform needed to get through the tie. Zenit to Win to Nil is priced at a profitable 11/10.