Zenit St Petersburg — Sion : Match Preview and Prediction for September 06,2025

Zenit’s Recent Performance and Season Start

The St. Petersburg outfit has endured a somewhat rocky start to their RPL season, especially considering their much-touted “centennial anniversary” and the reinforcement with players like Gerson and Vega. Sergey Semak’s team only found their rhythm just before the international break, delivering impressive performances with a commanding 4-0 victory over Dynamo Makhachkala, a high-scoring 5-3 win against Orenburg in the cup, and a solid 2-0 defeat of Pari NN in the RPL.

Squad Changes and International Absences

Despite a recent run of three consecutive victories, which is certainly commendable, the team has seen some significant internal changes. Sporting director Medvedev has departed, replaced by Konstantin Zyryanov, and Serbian defender Sasha Zdelar was deemed surplus to requirements. Furthermore, rumors are intensifying about Pedro’s potential move to Saudi Arabia. Adding to their challenges for this friendly, Zenit will be significantly depleted due to numerous international call-ups, including Mostovoy, Barrios, Luis Enrique, Gerson, Douglas Santos, Erakovic, Drukšič, Alip, Glushenkov, Gorshkov, and Pedro. Many youngsters from Zenit-2 will be drafted in to face Sion, who visited the Northern capital two months ago and suffered a 2-5 defeat against Zenit’s full-strength squad. Given these circumstances, it would be wise to approach Zenit’s favoritism in this match with caution, and holding a clean sheet might prove challenging for the hosts.

Sion’s Opportunity and Season Start

The Swiss side will be eager to improve upon their previous 2-5 defeat against a full-strength Zenit squad from the summer, especially now that their opponent is significantly weakened, while Sion has considerably fewer players away on international duty. The “Rouge et Blanc” have had a respectable start to their season in Switzerland, securing two victories out of four initial Super League matches and advancing in the Swiss Cup with a 2-0 win over Ajoie-Monthey. However, just before the international break, Didier Tholot’s charges suffered their first defeat of the season, a 0-1 loss at home to champions Basel.

Sion’s Squad Changes and Outlook

Regarding squad changes towards the end of summer, the team said goodbye to Anton Miranchuk, who moved to Dynamo. In his place, they acquired the intriguing attacking midfielder Donat Rudani from Kosovo and Portuguese forward Dinis Rodrigues from Braga (B) for their attack. Currently, the visitors have a much better chance of achieving a positive outcome against Zenit than they did two months ago. Only the long-term injured Kosovan forward Shala will be unavailable for Sion in this match.