Zenit St. Petersburg vs. CSKA Moscow 8/19/20 Premier League Soccer Pick, Odds, and Prediction

Zenit St. Petersburg is welcoming CSKA Moscow to Gazprom Arena in a derby match of round 3 in the Russian Premier League.

Zenit has been the best team in Russia over the last few seasons, and their last loss happened on January 25th. Since the restart of the last season, Zenit hasn’t lost any games, and with that, Zenit has won the Premier League with 72 points, 15 points more than Lokomotiv Moscow in second place. Not only Zenit won the title, but they were the best team offensively with 65 scored goals in 30 games, and defensively with only 18 conceded goals. With the title in their hands, Zenit has also qualified for the Champions League. After the first two rounds of the new season, Zenit is in second place with 6 points, 4 scored goals, and 0 conceded goals. The season has only started, but Zenit is displaying some great soccer, and they are certainly one of the favorites to win the title again. In their latest Premier League match against Rostov on the road, Zenit has had 57% of ball possession, 6 shots on goal, 2 corner kicks, and 77% of the correct passes. With 1 goal in each half, Zenit has won this match 0-2. Lunev and Dzyuba are both injured, while Rakitskiy is suspended because of the red card. The most important arrival to the club in the offseason is certainly Lovren from Liverpool, while Ivanovic has retired, and Shatov and Kokorin have left the team after their contracts expired. Zenit is probably the most exciting team in Russia, and they are showing that in the first few games of the season, but we will see if they can keep it up to defend the title.

CSKA has started the new season well, with two wins, 4 scored goals, and only 1 conceded goals. Last season didn’t end well for CSKA, and they will not be playing in the Champions League because they ended in 4th place with 50 points, only 2 points away from the Champions League. CSKA has been decent offensively with 43 scored goals, while their defense has been among the best in the league with 29 conceded goals. In this young season, CSKA is in 3rd place with points. In their last Premier League game against Tambov at home, CSKA has had 50% of ball possession, 4 shots on goal, 5 corner kicks, and solid 82% of the correct passes. The first half ended in 1-1 draw, while CSKA scored a winning goal in the 55th minute. Kuchaev has scored 2 goals in 2 games for CSKA so far. Vlasic and Dzogaev are both important players for CSKA, but they are both injured. There aren’t any notable arrivals or departures in CSKA this season. CSKA used to be the ruler of Russia, but they have been getting slower and slower over the last few years, and I’m afraid they aren’t doing anything to fix that.

When playing at home, Zenit hasn’t lost to CSKA in their last 9 games. Both Zenit and CSKA are playing in good form, but I think that Zenit is the better team, and I see them winning this match.