Valencia vs Zenit Betting Tips

There will be an intimidating atmosphere at the Mestalla on Wednesday night as Valencia make their return to Europe’s top table with what looks a winnable home game. That bring it’s own pressure however but they coped with it well when Monaco visited in the qualifying rounds. A 3-1 home win against a side that reached the Quarter Finals last year set them up to progress and suggests they could cause one or two of the continent’s more established sides a few problems.

Their start to La Liga has been solid rather than spectacular with 5 points from 3 games but they did pick up their first win at the weekend, a 1-0 success away to newly promoted Sporting Gijon. At the Mestalla they are usually very strong and haven’t lost any of their last 16 home games.

Zenit were crowned Russian Champions last season under André Villas-Boas and made it to the Quarter Finals of the Europa League where they narrowly lost to eventual winners Sevilla. However that followed a disappointing group stage showing where although they did the double over Benfica, they only picked up a 1 point from their other 4 games against Monaco and Bayer Leverkusen.

They’ve not started this season brilliantly and have only won 1 of their last 4 Russian Premier League games with defeats coming against Krylya Sovetov and Krasnodar so they don’t come here in the best of form. They sometimes have the edge in terms of fitness in the early group games given the Russian top flight starts early but that won’t be the case here as Valencia have already had a tough two-legged Champions League run-out.

The hosts are a strong side and have spent in excess of €100million over summer in preparation for a challenge at home and abroad. When the return match comes around in the depths of the Russian winter, this will be a really tough match for Valencia, but with home advantage on a warm night in Spain, you have to fancy their extra quality to show and them to win the game at 8/11.

Zenit lost two of their three Champions League away games 2-0 last season in Leverkusen and Monaco and this represents a similar sort of test against a side you’d expect to make the knock-out stages but perhaps not the real latter stages.

Valencia may have lost Nicolas Otamendi but they are still strong at the back and they are well capable of delivering a 2-0 win here at odds of 7/1.