UEFA CUP BETTING PICK - ZENIT ST. PETERSBURG V RANGERS

UEFA Cup

2008-05-14 - Zenit St. Petersburg vs Rangers

A Sports Betting Pick by Gooner

ZENIT ST PETERSBURG

Zenit have played 16 European games this season, kicking off their UEFA Cup campaign with a second qualifying round tie against Slovakia's FC Vion Zlate Moravce back in August. Their record so far reads W8 D4 L4, with 29 goals scored and 15 conceded.

Zenit have not played a league game since drawing 1-1 away to FC Saturn Moskovskaya Oblast on 19 April, with the Russian Premier-Liga allowing them to postpone their domestic fixtures to allow them to concentrate on the UEFA Cup.

Zenit warmed up for the final with a 2-2 friendly draw against AZ Alkmaar on Saturday. Louis van Gaal's side, who had been asked to play in a similar formation to Rangers, were 2-0 up by 33 minutes. Roman Shirokov (45) pulled one back and, after a series of second-half substitutions, Pogrebnyak converted a penalty for the draw.

Zenit had fielded Alejandro Dominguez and Fatih Tekke up front instead of Pogrebnyak, who is suspended for the final.

After watching Rangers last week, Dick Advocaat said: "Rangers are very well-organised but we will have our chances, no doubt about that. Both teams are very proud they have come this far.

We have beaten bigger sides than Rangers and they have beaten much bigger sides than Zenit. Having come this far, there is no reason to be nervous – just play the game and try to win."

Zenit will definately miss Pavel Pogrebnyak who will end the UEFA Cup campaign as the competition's joint top scorer, with 10 goals plus one more in qualifying. He is suspended after picking up a yellow card in the 4-0 win over Bayerrn Munich for a picky foul late on.

The only other Zenit players eligible to play in the final who have scored more than one goal in the competition this season are Zyrianov (2) and Arshavin (4).

GLASGOW RANGERS

Rangers have played 18 games in Europe this season, ten in the UEFA Champions League and eight more since moving into the UEFA Cup. They have scored just 16 goals in those 18 games, five coming in the UEFA Cup.

Entering the UEFA Cup in the Round of 32, they have beaten Panathinaikos FC, Werder Bremen, Sporting Clube de Portugal and Fiorentina to reach the final. Rangers record is W2 D5 L1.

Rangers claimed a morale-boosting victory at Ibrox on the weekend as Novo's first-half double helped set them on their way to a 3-1 victory against Dundee United - the side manager Walter Smith spent much of his playing career with.

It keeps the pressure on Celtic at the Scottish Premier League summit but was tainted by the sight of Kevin Thomson hobbling off with an ankle problem six minutes into the second period.

Rangers have tasted Scottish League Cup success already this season, and remain on course for an incredible possible quadruple, since Rangers are in both the Scottish Cup and UEFA Cup finals and are narrow favourites to win the Scottish Premier League title.

IS OVER/UNDER A GOOD BET ?

The ten finals between 1997/98 and 2006/07 were largely high-scoring affairs – averaging 3.9 goals per match – but Rangers might have other ideas.

Walter Smith's men have scored just five times in eight games en route to Manchester and no team has ever got to the final with fewer.

That said, their goal-per-game ratio is still better than
that of the Fiorentina side who reached the 1989/90 final after scoring only six in ten.

HEAD TO HEAD

This is the first official meeting between Rangers and Zenit, although Advocaat took his side to Ibrox for a friendly on 24 August 2006 that formed part of the terms of Fernando Ricksen's switch between the clubs.

Zenit ran out 4-1 winners that day against a Rangers team then under the charge of Paul Le Guen. Lee Ho and Igor Denisov put Zenit 2-0 in front and after Gavin Rae had replied for the hosts, Aleksandr Kerzhakov and Oleksandr Spivak added further goals.

It was a typical pre-season friendly game however with 12 substitutions in the match.

This is Zenit's first encounter with a Scottish side during European competition but Rangers have faced Russian opponents ten times previously, their overall record reading an impressive W7 D2 L1

THE VERDICT

I like to back teams that are scoring goals and Zenit St Petersburg certainly seem to fit that bill - scoring 4-0 wins over both Bayer Leverkusen and Bayern Munich in the knockout rounds.

The loss of Pogrebnyak is a blow, he seems to be a natural goalscorer (check the video coverage of the semi-final in the news link on the left), and the Rangers rearguard will also make it tough.

Although it could be argued that Rangers record, and likely approach to this game makes the draw an outstanding bet, I think that Zenit have the weapons to grab a goal and force a more open game.

The Pick :

BEST BETTING TIP :

I'll take ZENIT ST PETERSBURG to win at any price of 2.20 or more.