By Daily Sports on December 8, 2021

Champions League holders Chelsea will be looking to finish top of Group H with a victory away against Zenit St Petersburg on Wednesday night. The hosts, meanwhile, are already bound for the Europa League after a 1-1 with Malmo last time out guaranteed their third-place finish in the group.

For the third successive campaign, Zenit St Petersburg have been eliminated from the Champions League at the group stage; however, this time they have avoided finishing rock bottom after claiming four points from their fixtures against basement club Malmo.

Since their score draw in Sweden last month, the Russian giants have beaten CSKA Moscow 2-0 on the road, before drawing 2-2 at home against FC Rostov last Friday, a game in which they were trailing by two goals before the half-hour mark.

Sergei Semak’s side remain top of the Russian Premier League, two points clear of Dynamo Moscow, who they will face next on Sunday. Although one eye will certainly be on this eagerly-anticipated league clash, Zenit now turn their attention to Wednesday’s battle with Chelsea, which will be their 200th game in European competition – becoming only the second Russian team to reach this milestone after Spartak Moscow.

Zenit’s only previous meeting against the Blues was their opening Group H game earlier this season, when they lost 1-0 at Stamford Bridge thanks to a 69th-minute header from Romelu Lukaku.

After frustrating Chelsea for large spells in London, Semak’s men will be hoping to replicate their performance and come away with a more positive result this time around, to end their group campaign on a high.

Wednesday’s fixture will be the third time Zenit have hosted an English team in Europe and they will be looking to claim their third successive victory, having previously beaten Bradford City 1-0 in the 2000 Intertoto Cup and Liverpool 2-0 in the 2012-13 Europa League.

Chelsea’s 12-game unbeaten run across all competitions came to an end last weekend, as they let a one-goal lead slip twice to lose 3-2 away against London rivals West Ham United. (Sports Mole)

•PHOTO: Chelsea Manager Tuchel

Source Daily Sports

Posted December 8, 2021

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