Zenit St Petersburg vs Vardar Skopje Predictions, 23 Nov 2017

The Match Is Over. Score: 2-1

Zenit Petersburg v Vardar Predictions for Thursday's 6.00pm kick-off Europa League group fixture facing Zenit Petersburg and a Vardar side at Krestovsky Stadium. After 4 matches in Group L of the Europa League (EL) we can be certain of 2 things: Zenit will progress to the next round. Vardar will not.

Match status: 2017-18 Europa League Group Stages
Kick-off: Thursday 23 Nov 2017, 06:00pm GMT
Venue: "Krestovsky Stadium" in Saint Petersburg, Russia

Zenit Petersburg v Vardar Team News

Cruising at the top of the group, Zenit nonetheless know that they must probably win here and avoid defeat away at Sociedad to retain 1st place.

After an impressive win against Fenerbahce in the playoffs, Vardar became the first Macedonian club ever to qualify for the group stage of a European competition. The group stage experience has, however, proved difficult for Vardar, with 4 straight losses and a somewhat horrible goal difference of 1-17.

Furthermore, the European 'adventure' may have other costs - after winning 3 straight domestic titles, Vardar this season are trailing their greatest rivals in recent years, Shkendija, by 11 points already.

The reverse fixture in Macedonia ended 5-0 to Zenit. Pessimistic Vardar-fans might find some consolation in that, as long as Zenit win, there is no scenario where goal difference will be decisive. They have already repeated Aalborgs record defeat (0-6) once in the group stage, and will be hoping to avoid coming close to the record again.

Alexandr Kokorin, who along with team-mate Emiliano Rigoni is joint topscorer in the tournament so far (5 goals), is despite his young age approaching EL fame. With 17 goals in the tournament so far (Zenit, Dinamo Moscow), the Russian striker is only a handful of goals away from making the ELs top 10 all-time top scorer list.

Conclusion and Match Preview:

Zenit are only 1 of 12 clubs who’ve previously won the EL and the domestic league in the same season (2008). 17 games in, they are currently 3 points behind league leaders Lokomotiv Moscow - are we in for a repeat at the 10-year mark?

Vardar have been behind at half time in all of their 4 matches so far, and receive goals in equal measure early and late in the matches (8 in the 1st half, 9 in the 2nd). Zenit are of a similar (yet completely different!) mould, scoring 7 goals before and 7 after the break so far.