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Zenit playing catch-up in Russia

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The Russian Premier-Liga resumes this weekend with the champions and UEFA Cup winners FC Zenit St. Petersburg struggling in an unaccustomed position.

UEFA Cup holders Zenit face a fixture backlog as the Russian season resumes
UEFA Cup holders Zenit face a fixture backlog as the Russian season resumes ©Getty Images

The Russian Premier-Liga resumes this weekend following the break for UEFA EURO 2008™ with title-holders and UEFA Cup champions FC Zenit St. Petersburg finding themselves in an unaccustomed position.

Fixtures postponed
Zenit return to their domestic duties lying third from bottom in the 16-team table having played five games less than championship pacesetters FC Rubin Kazan. While the league programme paused for 50 days for most teams to account for EURO, Zenit have not played a Premier-Liga game for more than 70 days – their last encounter being a 1-1 draw at FC Saturn Moskovskaya Oblast on 19 April – after the league agreed to postpone their fixtures so they could focus on the UEFA Cup.

European triumph
From a European perspective, the ploy worked as they enjoyed a 5-1 aggregate semi-final win against FC Bayern München followed by a 2-0 final victory against Rangers FC on 14 May to become the second Russian side to claim the trophy in three years. In the league, while Zenit sit on just seven points alongside the two clubs below them, FC Luch-Energia Vladivostok and FC Khimki, if they were to win all five matches in hand, it would put them second, just three points off the lead.

Backlog
However, the postponements mean the champions now face a backlog with eight games to be played between 6 and 30 July – an average of one every three days. August is also due to be busy and includes the UEFA Super Cup meeting with Manchester United FC followed by the club's maiden UEFA Champions League group stage campaign, which starts in mid-September.

'Tough schedule'
"I have never played such a tough schedule," said Zenit captain Anatoliy Tymoschuk. "But our task is to reclaim first place in the table. No team will give us any margin for error and every match will be key for us." Much is likely to depend on the condition of Russian internationals Vyacheslav Malafeev, Roman Shirokov, Aleksandr Anyukov and Konstantin Zyryanov who were all with the national squad at UEFA EURO 2008™, the last two playing every minute of Russia's five games.

Forward options
Pavel Pogrebnyak, the club's leading striker, missed the finals through a knee injury and is still not fit enough to lead the line. Another potential loss is Zenit's long-standing talisman Andrei Arshavin, who was the subject of much transfer speculation before UEFA EURO 2008™, but following his eye-catching performances during the tournament, has now become one of the most sought-after signatures in European football. Nevertheless, the Zenit board has already announced its plans to strengthen the squad ahead of the club's UEFA Champions League debut.

Advocaat's optimism
The club's Dutch coach Dick Advocaat is also optimistic after overseeing a successful training camp in Denmark. His side took part in three friendly matches, winning the first two against Helsingborgs IF and FC Nordsjælland but going down in the final game to FC København. "We have worked hard and now are ready for the title race," Advocaat said. "We have what it takes to catch Rubin." That confidence will be severely tested over the next few months, starting with the home game against FC Tom Tomsk on Sunday.