Preview: Real Betis vs. Zenit St Petersburg - prediction, team news, lineups

On Thursday, Zenit St Petersburg will travel to the Estadio Benito Villamarin to face Real Betis in the second leg of their Europa League knockout round playoff tie.

The hosts have the upper hand following the first leg after winning 3-2 in St Petersburg last Thursday.

Match preview

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Real Betis enter Thursday's contest off the back of four consecutive victories in all competitions.

Los Verdiblancos got off to the perfect start in St Petersburg last week, with goals from Guido Rodriguez and Willian Jose giving the visitors a two-goal lead inside 18 minutes.

After starting slowly, Zenit hit back with two quick goals of their own as strikes from Artem Dzyuba and Malcom levelled the encounter before an Andres Guardado effort four minutes before half time proved to be the winner to give Real Betis a slender lead at the halfway stage of the tie.

Manuel Pellegrini's side followed that win with another victory in La Liga on Sunday as goals from Alex Moreno and Willian Jose guided Los Verdiblancos to a 2-1 home victory over Mallorca.

Having lost just four of their 17 competitive home games this season, the hosts will be confident of getting a positive result that would advance them to the last 16.

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With the Russian Premier League not returning from their winter break until this weekend, Zenit have had a week to ponder the 3-2 defeat from the first leg.

Not only will Sergei Samak be disappointed with the loss, but he will also be frustrated that the defeat ended a five-game unbeaten home run in all competitions.

Although with the first leg representing Zenit's first competitive match of 2022, it perhaps was not surprising that the hosts started slowly last week.

With the away goals rule scrapped, Samak's will believe that his side have the quality to overturn the one-goal deficit, although he will be concerned with the fact that Zenit have lost eight of their 10 European away games in Spain.

Further to that, their recent away form will not leave the Russian Premier League champions feeling confident, having won just twice in their last 10 competitive away games.

Team News

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Real Betis are without Juan Miranda, Martin Montoya and Victor Camarasa due to injury issues.

After missing the first leg through suspension, Nabil Fekir will be available for Thursday's contest, while Sergio Canales will also feature after missing the game in Russia due to COVID-19.

Willian Jose has scored in his last two appearances for Real Betis, and he is expected to lead the line for the hosts on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Zenit are unable to call upon the services of Dejan Lovren and Stanislav Kritsyuk, who are injury absentees.

Ivan Sergeev and Yuri Alberto both made their debuts for Zenit last week with substitute appearances in the first leg, but the pair may have to wait a little longer for their first starts for the club, as they are expected to be on the bench once again for Thursday's contest.

After netting a goal apiece last Thursday, Malcom and Dzyuba are set to retain their places in the forward line.

Real Betis possible starting lineup:

Silva; Sabaly, Pezzella, Gonzalez, Moreno; Rodriguez, Guadrado, Canales; Fekir, Juanmi, Willian Jose

Zenit St Petersburg possible starting lineup:

Kerzhakov; Karavaev, Chistyakov, Rakitskiy, Santos; Wendel, Barrios, Kuzyaev; Malcom, Claudinho, Dzyuba

We say: Real Betis 2-1 Zenit St Petersburg

Real Betis have been finding the net with ease of late, having scored 23 goals in their previous eight games in all competitions, and with Zenit pressing for victory on Thursday, we expect Real Betis to take advantage of any gaps left in the defence to claim a narrow win.