Euroleague Tips with Previews – Thursday matches

• All four of the previous games between Zenit and Bayern have finished with single-digit margins of victory.

Zenit St Petersburg (2-1) is set for a home-opener as it welcomes FC Bayern Munich (0-3) to Sibur Arena on Thursday night. The two sides that have made history last season, each reaching the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Playoffs for the first time, have opened this campaign in opposite fashion. Zenit holds 2-1 record, having won the first two games of the season before suffering a 77-67 defeat to the hands of its Russian rival CSKA Moscow on Tuesday.

On the other hand, Bayern opened its season with three defeats by a combined margin of 12 points, and it is coming off a 73-70 road loss against UNICS Kazan after a game in which it surrendered a 16-point second-quarter lead. All four of the previous games between Zenit and Bayern have finished with a single-digit margin of victory, and the teams split narrow home wins last season.

• These teams have a 2-2 record against each other.

Two teams that finished on the opposite side of rollercoaster games in Round 3 face off on the Asian side of the Bosporus when Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul (1-2) welcomes UNICS Kazan (1-2) on Thursday. The hosts are coming off a 14-point loss against ALBA Berlin after a game in which they held a 10-point lead. It was their second straight loss.

UNICS, coming off its first win, arrives to Istanbul for its first road game of the season. UNICS trailed by as many as 16 points in the first half against FC Bayern Munich but rallied to pull out a 73-70 win. This is the fifth head-to-head game between these two sides, with each having won two previous contests. The last time they faced each other, in the 2016-17 regular season, they split road victories.

• These two teams are tied at 4-4 in their head-to-head series this century.

ALBA Berlin (1-2) welcomes Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz (1-2) to the German capital in a clash of two teams looking to build on their most recent performance. Both ALBA and Baskonia registered their first wins of the season on Tuesday. ALBA scored 57 second-half points to rally from a double-digit deficit and sink visiting Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul 84-70 behind 22 points from Oscar da Silva and 21 points from Maodo Lo.

Baskonia edged Panathinaikos OPAP Athens 81-79 with Rokas Giedraitis and former ALBA forward Simone Fontecchio each scoring 16 points. In head-to-head games, ALBA swept Baskonia last season and the German champs have won three of their last four games, including both games in Berlin over the last two seasons.

• Maccabi is 5-4 in games all-time against Villeurbanne.

LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne (3-0) will try to continue its magical start to the 2021-22 season when it hosts Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv (1-2) on Thursday. Not only is ASVEL undefeated and in the midst of its best-ever start to the EuroLeague season, but it is also coming off a thrilling come-from-behind 75-73 win over reigning champion Anadolu Efes Istanbul in which the French champion remarkably rallied from a 19-point second-half deficit.

ASVEL swept Maccabi in their two regular-season clashes last season and will try to extend that streak against the Israeli champion, which will try to return to winning ways after losing two in a row – both by double-digit margins. Maccabi is coming off an 83-72 loss at AX Armani Exchange Milan, a contest in which it trailed by as many as 22 points.

Tip: Over 152.5 at 1.86 with bet365