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Dundalk vs Zenit St. Petersburg: Preview and Prediction

Dundalk vs Zenit St. Petersburg
UEFA Europa League – Group D
Date: Thursday, 20th October, 2016
Kick-off: 20:05 UK.
Venue: Tallaght Stadium, Dublin.

The Thursday’s Europa League Group D awaits one of the crucial encounters when Republic of Ireland club Dundalk plays hosts to Russian club Zenit. As per the current group standing, it’s a clash between top two teams of the group. So, both teams will try to put their best efforts to confirm their progress for the next knockout phase of the tournament.

Dundalk have made a good start to their Europa League campaign by securing a 1-1 away draw against Dutch side AZ and one crucial 1-0 home win over Israel side Maccabi Tel Aviv in the first two matches.

While Zenit have made a perfect start to their Europa League campaign by securing an unbelievable 3-4 away win at Maccabi Tel-Aviv on matchday one. They scored 4 goals after being down by 3 goals. And on day 2 at home against Dutch side AZ, they eased to an easy 5-0 home keeping a perfect win record alive in the Europa League.

Key Facts

Dundalk suffered only 1 defeat in their last 15 games in all competition. In addition to that, the Dundalk side has conceded only 11 goals in their last 15 matches, which is less than 1 goal per match.

Zenit currently enjoys their unbeaten run in the 15 consecutive games in all competition. In addition, they have scored 42 goals in their last 15 matches, approximately 3 goals per match.

Dundalk vs Zenit St. Petersburg: Head-to-Head Stats

Dundalk has never played against Russian opponent Zenit in any UEFA competitions before.

There were only 6 previous meetings between an Irish and Russian side in UEFA branded tournaments. The Russians lead the stat table with 5 wins against 1 by the clubs from Ireland.

Dundalk vs Zenit St. Petersburg: Prediction

Dundalk will depend on the home advantage to register their second win from D group of the UEFA Europa League. But Zenit will also look for full points and they have already secured a big win against AZ in their previous Europa league match and they always try to continue their winning streak.

So, it will be a very close affair between the two teams in spite of the unstoppable form of Zenit. And Dundalk will try to put their best efforts to secure at least a draw from their home ground. Therefore, we will be backing the Russian outfit to secure a 1 or 2 goal victory over Republic of Ireland side on Thursday’s Europa League clash.

Predicted result will be a win for Zenit by 1 or 2 goal margins.