Zenit – Akhmat

Grozny club will perform with dignity in St. Petersburg

The last round of the current round of the Russian Premier League is extremely similar to the final game day of the last championship. Zenit St. Petersburg then played the final round against Rostov. To win another set of gold medals Semak's team needed only a victory in their match and a defeat of Dinamo Moscow in Krasnodar. Under any other circumstances, the trophy would have been won by one of the participants in the Krasnodar match. However, everything turned out for the St. Petersburg players in the best possible way and the title remained in St. Petersburg. Before the 30th round of the current championship the fate of Zenit is again in the hands of Krasnodar and Dinamo Moscow, which will again meet on the field of "bulls". Only this time the Gazprom Arena will host Grozny's Akhmat, rather than Rostov, who were beaten in the previous round. The visiting team is not among the best clubs in the division but it has a serious character and is also motivated from a tournament point of view. Bookmakers have identified the hosts as clear favourites for the decisive encounter, offering odds of 1.23 on their victory. Zenit are not showing a championship game at all this season. Surprisingly, the only convincing victory in the last month and a half the St. Petersburg club got over their rival in the fight for the championship title - Krasnodar. The last three rounds have been excruciating for their fans. First, Zenit had to win a willful victory at home over Paris NN with a decisive goal in the 83rd minute, then defend a 1-0 victory in Kaspiysk over Dinamo Makhachkala. Last round in Rostov almost turned out to be the "clinical death" of Zenit's championship ambitions. With the score 1-0 in favour of Semak's team in Rostov, Osipenko sent the ball into Latyshonok's net seconds before the final whistle, but the goal was disallowed due to a ten centimetre offside. Akhmat is not the best opponent for the decisive match. The Grozny club will definitely not sit back in defence. Tashuyev's team have character and their own game - quite unpleasant for opponents. Akhmat have Samorodov, Sadulaev, Berisha, Melkadze. Each of them is capable of both creating a scoring chance and solving it. We bet that the guests will perform well in St. Petersburg in their fight for a safe position in the standings.