The hosts have their hands after the first leg following their 3-2 win in St Petersburg last Thursday.
Real Betis enters Thursday’s contest after 4 consecutive victories in all competitions.
The Verdiblancos got off to a great start in St Petersburg last week, with goals from Guido Rodriguez and Willian Jose giving the visitors a two-goal lead in 18 minutes.
Gradually, Zenit struck back with two quick goals when moves from Artem Dzyuba and Malcom levelled the game before an Andres Guardado effort 4 minutes before half-time proved the winner to give Real Betis a narrow lead at the halfway point of the tie.
Manuel Pellegrini’s side followed up that win with La Liga victory on Sunday when goals from Alex Moreno and Willian Jose guided Los Verdiblancos to a 2-1 home win over Mallorca.
Having lost only 4 of their 17 home games this season, the hosts will be sure of a positive result that would take them to the most sensible 16.
With the Russian Premier League returning from its winter break until this weekend, Zenit had a week to reflect on the 3-2 defeat in the first leg.
Sergei Samak will not be disappointed with the loss, but he will also be frustrated because the defeat ended a five-game unbeaten run at home in all competitions.
Although the first leg represents Zenit’s first competitive adjustment in 2022, it’s perhaps no surprise that the hosts got off to a slow start last week.
With the removal of the away goals rule, Samak will think his side has the quality to reverse the one-goal deficit, he will be involved in Zenit having lost 8 of their 10 European away matches in Spain.
In addition, their recent away form will leave the Russian Premier League champions, who have won only twice in their last 10 away games, confident.
Real Betis are Juan Miranda, Martín Montoya and Víctor Camarasa due to injury problems.
After missing the first leg due to suspension, Nabil Fekir will be available for Thursday’s match, while Sergio Canales will also be available after missing Russia due to COVID-19.
Willian Jose has scored in both of his appearances for Real Betis, and is expected to lead the hosts’ line on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Zenit cannot count on those of Dejan Lovren and Stanislav Kritsyuk, absent due to injury.
Ivan Sergeev and Yuri Alberto made Zenit debuts last week with substitute appearances in the first leg, but the pair may have to wait a little longer for their first starts with the club as they are expected to be on the bench. Again. for Thursday’s contest.
After scoring one goal each last Thursday, Malcolm and Dzyuba maintain their position on the forward line.
Possible Real Betis line-up: Silva; Sabaly, Pezzella, Gonzalez, Moreno; Rodriguez, Guadrado, Canales; Fekir, Juanmi, Willian José
Possible line-up for Zenit St. Petersburg: Kerzhakov; Karavaev, Chistyakov, Rakitskiy, Santos; Wendel, Barrios, Kuzyaev; Malcom, Claudinho, Dzyuba
Real Betis have discovered the net with ease in recent times, having scored 23 goals in their last 8 games in all competitions, and with Zenit urgent for victory on Thursday, we expect Real Betis to take advantage of all the gaps left in defence. to claim a near victory.
Our investigation of all available data, aggregating recent performances and player statistics up to an hour before kick-off, suggested that the maximum probable maximum final results of this fit into a Real Betis win with a probability of 40. 8%. A win for Zenit St. Petersburg had a probability of 31. 07% and a draw a probability of 28. 1%.
The maximum maximum score likely for a 1-0 Real Betis win with a probability of 12. 46%. The other probable maximum scores for this final outcome were 2-1 (8. 24%) and 2-0 (7. 81%). Zenit St. The maximum of St. Petersburg will probably win 0-1 (10. 49%), while for a draw it will be 1-1 (13. 14%). The actual score of 0-0 forecasts with a probability of 9. 9%.