H2H: Zenit St. Petersburg vs Club Brugge – Prediction (Champions League

Preview and Teams Comparison.

Artem Dzyuba has been Zenit’s first scorer with four of his last five UCL home goals, all coming before HT. Scorer of five goals in his last six domestic league games, each of Hans Vanaken’s last six competitive strikes for Brugge have come before the 50th minute. Eleven of Zenit’s last 15 UCL group stage home games – including the last six – saw the same HT/FT result.

Zenit St. Petersburg Insights.

Unbeaten in their last three UEFA Champions League (UCL) group openers (W2, D1), Zenit St. Petersburg are usually strong starters. They kept a first-half clean sheet in five of their last six group stage games, although that translated to just one clean sheet at FT (W2, D1, L3). In fact Zenit led 1-0 at HT in four of those games, yet with five of their last nine UCL ‘goals against’ arriving between 46’-60’, any first-half dominance from Zenit could be easily erased. Their home form is impressive though, as Zenit have lost just two of their last 14 UCL group stage home matches (W7, D5, L2), including six wins from the last seven (W6, L1). Five of those victories saw Zenit lead 1-0 at HT. Furthermore, Zenit are on a run of 12 straight domestic home wins, covering a -1 handicap in each of the last four.

Club Brugge Insights.

Club Brugge are winless in their last six UCL group stage openers (D2, L4). Crucially, Brugge failed to score before HT in their last five such games, and failed to score at all in the last three. Furthermore, Brugge have failed to score before HT in seven of their previous eight UCL group stage games (D5, L3) although four were goalless at the break. The Belgian club don’t travel well and have won just one of their last ten UCL group stage away games (W1, D3, L6). Seven of those ten saw Brugge fail to score before HT, and six of the seven ‘winners’ kept a first-half clean sheet. Impressively however, they are unbeaten in 14 domestic away games (W8, D6 – 90 mins).