Zenit St Petersburg @ Lokomotiv Moscow match preview

With Zenit Saint Petersburg loss last week to CSKA Moscow their hopes for a return to the Champions League is a slim one. Both Lokomotiv Moscow and Zenit have a match in hand and a victory will move the winner into fifth position. Zenit is in a peculiar position strategically as they face Real Madrid in the Champions League on Tuesday.

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Lokomotiv Moscow - combined (2 W, 1 D, 2 L)(5 GS, 6 GA)
Aug 16 Lokomotiv Moscow 0 - 0 Saturn Moscow
Aug 23 Terek Grozny 2 - 1 Lokomotiv Moscow
Aug 30 Lokomotiv Moscow 0 - 2 CSKA Moscow
Sep 14 Spartak Nalchik 0 - 1 Lokomotiv Moscow
Sep 20 Luch-Energiya Vladivostok 2 - 3 Lokomotiv Moscow

Lokomotiv Moscow - home (1 W, 2 D, 2 L)(4 GS, 5 GA)
Jul 10 Lokomotiv Moscow 2 - 0 Tom' Tomsk
Aug 6 Lokomotiv Moscow 0 - 1 Amkar Perm'
Aug 19 Lokomotiv Moscow 2 - 2 Spartak Moscow
Aug 16 Lokomotiv Moscow 0 - 0 Saturn Moscow
Aug 30 Lokomotiv Moscow 0 - 2 CSKA Moscow

Zenit Saint Petersburg - combined (3 W, D, 2 L)(12 GS, 7 GA)
Aug 13 Zenit St Petersburg 3 - 1 Terek Grozny
Aug 17 Zenit St Petersburg 1 - 3 Shinnik Yaroslav
Aug 24 Samara Kryliya Sovetov 0 - 3 Zenit St Petersburg
Sep 13 Terek Grozny 1 - 4 Zenit St Petersburg
Sep 21 Zenit St Petersburg 1 - 3 CSKA Moscow

Zenit Saint Petersburg - home (2 W, 1 D, 2 L)(8 GS, 6 GA)
Jul 26 Dynamo Moscow 1 - 0 Zenit St Petersburg
Aug 30 CSKA Moscow 0 - 0 Zenit St Petersburg
Aug 10 Rubin Kazan 4 - 1 Zenit St Petersburg
Aug 24 Samara Kryliya Sovetov 0 - 3 Zenit St Petersburg
Sep 13 Terek Grozny 1 - 4 Zenit St Petersburg

Dick Advocaat's club is likely to face a very aggressive Lokomotiv squad. Rashid Rakhimov can smell a European bid and the way to defeat Zenit this weekend, is not to lay back and counter but attack agressively in the flanks and take the match to Zenit. Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, Dmitri Torbinski and Romanian international Răzvan Cociş are playing brilliant in the attack and Sergei Gurenko and Russian 'capped Renat Yanbayev will look to control Zenit's free-flowing attack of Andrei Arshavin, Danni and Pavel Pogrebnyak. Without question their midfield of Igor Denisov, Radek Šírl,Konstantin Zyryanov and most notably the great Ukrainian Anatoliy Tymoschuk will determine the outcome of the match. Both clubs are reporting minimal injuries, however I will up-date that if it changes.