Khimki vs Zenit St. Petersburg Prediction on July 15, 2022

Match info

On Friday, July 15, the Arena Khimki will host the opening match of the 2022-23 season in the men’s football Mir Russian Premier Liga, in which local FC Khimki will host FC Zenit St. Petersburg. The meeting is scheduled to start at 8 p.m. Moscow time, with the latter team put as the favorite at online bookies with no deposit bonuses.

Meeting statistics

The current form of Khimki

Khimki are starting their third season in the Premier Liga in a row after a string of years in the FNL championship. The Moscow Region team looked very weak in the last season and risked being directly relegated to the second division of the country, but the return of Sergei Yuran to the post of head coach fixed everything. At the finish line, the ‘Red-Blacks’ scored 18 out of 30 possible points, which allowed them to be in the zone of play-offs, where they were stronger than SKA-Khabarovsk in the sum of two games – 3-1. In the summer, Khimki held three control meetings in which they tied with Veles and Sochi – 0- 0 each and then beat Enisey – 4-2.

The current form of Zenit St. Peterbsurg

Zenit has been the strongest team in Russia for four years in a row. Every year, the Neva side won the championship ahead of schedule, demonstrating how much mightier they are than all their competitors. The ‘Blue-White-Sky Blues’ approach the new season without a number of leaders from previous years, since Artyom Dzyuba and Magomed Ozdoev weren’t offered new contracts and Yuri Alberto went on loan to Corinthians. Among the recruits, it’s worth highlighting the defender of Rodrigo, as well as the striker’s duo - Zelimkhan Bakaev and Mateo Cassierra. In the summer, the St. Petersburg team already managed to win the PARI Premier Cup, then turned out to be stronger than Crvena zvezda in the battle of national champions, while the victory over Spartak in the battle for the Russian Super Cup was the icing on the cake – 4-0.

Head-to-head facts

Over the entire history of the two teams, there were 12 personal meetings held. There are no victories on the account of the Moscow Region club, the Petersburgers were stronger in 11 matches, and one more game ended in a draw. The goal difference is also on the side of the ‘blue-white-sky blues’ – 31-9. Last season, the rivals met twice, and both times, the victory was celebrated by Zenit – 3-1 and 1-0.

Match analytics

The confrontations between Khimki and Zenit in recent years haven’t been distinguished by a too-solid scoring activity. In the last five head-to-head meetings, the teams jointly scored only ten goals (2 per game on average), which is a modest figure even by the standards of Russian football. In the upcoming battle, we’re unlikely to see the high performance, after all, the St. Petersburg team spent a lot of energy and emotions in the battle with Spartak for the Super Cup where they quenched their goal hunger, and the ‘Red-Blacks’ will certainly not play openly against the champion. Based on this, the best option for the bet is the total under 3 goals for 1.85 at 888sport.

Results of the forecast

Successful forecast. Khimki vs Zenit St 1:1