UEFA Cup Group A Preview

By: Ian Rose | October 9th, 2007

This is the first in an eight-part series taking a closer look at the eight groups in the UEFA Cup group stage, previewing the matches, and making my admittedly shot-in-the-dark predictions for each and every match of the group stage.

Group A is, in order of seeding:
AZ Alkmaar (Netherlands), Zenit St. Petersburg (Russia), Everton (England), Nürnberg (Germany), and AE Larisa (Greece)

The matches:
Everton v. Larisa, 25 October
- My pick: Larisa fails to take another English scalp, and this one goes to Everton by a nose.

Zenit St. Petersburg v. AZ Alkmaar, 25 October
- My pick: Zenit is going to be a tough place to travel to, even early in the competition, and I don’t see them dropping any home points. Zenit win.

Larisa v. Zenit St. Petersburg, 8 November
- My pick: Larisa’s first home match is going to be a tricky one, and I like Zenit for the away win.

Nürnberg v. Everton, 8 November
- My pick: Nürnberg have had a dreadful start to their domestic season, and narrowly got past Rapid Bucharest in the last UC round, and I have to like Everton to take the away win here.

AZ Alkmaar v. Larisa, 29 November
- My pick: AZ for the comfortable win at home.

Zenit St. Petersburg v. Nürnberg, 29 November
- My pick: Again, the conditions in St. Petersburg and Nürnberg’s form should combine for a home win.

Everton v. Zenit St. Petersburg, 5 December
- My pick: This is a tough one, and I see it playing to a draw.

Nürnberg v. AZ Alkmaar, 5 December
- My pick: Nürnberg will play spoiler here and draw with top-seeded AZ.

AZ Alkmaar v. Everton, 20 December
- My pick: AZ for the home win.

Larisa v. Nürnberg, 20 December
- My pick: This is the last game of the group, and both of these teams will be desperate for points. Close win to Nürnberg.

If all the results go the way I predict (fat bloody chance of that…), here’s the table, with the qualifiers in bold:

Zenit St. Petersburg (10 pts)
AZ Alkmaar (7 pts)
Everton (7 points)
Nürnberg (4 points)
Larisa (0 points)

As dangerous as Larisa proved they can be, I just can’t see what matches they will take points from in this group. Hosting Nürnberg is certainly their best shot, but I’d tip the German side to win that one as well. AZ didn’t exactly impress in their 1-0 First Round win against Paços de Ferreira, and are playing below their traditional weight domestically as well, so I can’t see them winning the group, but they’ll qualify. I really believe Zenit is the king of this group. They’re tied for the lead in an underrated Russian Premier League, and faced down good competition in the First UC round. Look for Everton to make it through in the third position, and for Nürnberg and the Greek minnows Larisa to head home early.