Zenit St Petersburg vs Austria Vienna preview - Vienna mean nothing to Arshavin

Posted Monday, September 30, 2013 by PA

Zenit St Petersburg forward Andrey Arshavin has absolutely no idea what to expect from Austria Vienna in Tuesday night's Champions League game at the Petrovsky Stadium.

The former Arsenal winger has not watched Vienna's narrow 1-0 defeat to Porto on the opening night, a result earned in the Austrian capital while Zenit were losing 3-1 at Atletico Madrid in Group G.

Nor has he paid much attention to the current domestic struggles of Nenad Bjelica's men - the reigning Bundesliga champions are floundering in fifth place - while he focuses on aiding Zenit's own title bid.

The Sky Blues, last season's runners-up, are now three points clear at the top of the Russian Premier League after beating rivals Spartak Moscow 4-2 on Saturday.

It was a fourth home win in five attempts and, while Arshavin does not believe the Vienna game can be decisive at this stage, he fears his team-mates could pay dearly if they fail to dominate European nights at the Petrovsky.

He told fc-zenit.ru: "I wouldn't like to compare Austria to our previous opponents for one simple reason - I've never seen them play before, and I've never seen an Austrian league match either.

"So I'll refrain from commenting. We'll see everything on the pitch.

"But I don't think this match will be the deciding match for making the next round.

"We're just preparing ourselves to win at least all three home matches in order to make the round of 16."

When asked about coach Luciano Spalletti's decision to field a full-strength team against Spartak only three days before a Champions League game, Arshavin reminded reporters how there can be no continental football without domestic success.

"We all play in the Russian League in order to make it to the Champions League tournament the following year," Arshavin added.

"And that's why we went through qualification this year.

"In terms of our physical shape, everything's alright too. Zenit will be very strong."

Vienna, meanwhile, approach the match in dismal form and with a mounting absentee list.

Saturday's defeat at Admira Wacker was a fourth in six games, while injuries to key men Marko Stankovic, Daniel Royer, Alexander Grunwald and Alexander Gorgon have left coach Bjelica with only 18 fit players at his disposal.

He said: "We have had a run of games in which we were not able to bring our full potential to the table.

"Against Admira we saw how we are struggling to cope with our current injury problems.

"The players do not have the fresh legs they need to play at their usual level and therefore our overall game is suffering.

"I think we can already start talking about a crisis."