Zenit vs Chelsea LIVE: Champions League latest score, goals and updates from fixture tonight
Chelsea will wrap up their Champions League group campaign with a trip to Russia and an away game with Zenit on Wednesday night, still needing a result to confirm their status as group winners. The Blues have to match in St Petersburg the result which Juventus earn at home to Malmo to ensure they stay top and ahead of the Italian side on head-to-head, thereby giving Thomas Tuchel’s side seeded status in the last 16.
At Stamford Bridge earlier in the season, a second-half Romelu Lukaku goal earned a 1-0 win for the Premier League outfit; they had recently been on a tremendous run of 10 wins from 12 matches, but defeat to West Ham at the weekend means it’s also only one win from the last three in all competitions. Tuchel will be looking to get back to winning ways and says his team can do so without N’Golo Kante: “He is the Superman, he is the guy who makes the difference, the guy everybody in the whole world wants to have in their midfield,” the manager said. “And we miss him, for a long time. Can we produce results and top performances without N’Golo? Yeah we can, and we’ve proved it already.”
Zenit are already guaranteed to finish third in Group H regardless of tonight’s result. Follow Zenit vs Chelsea updates below:
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Zenit 0 – 1 Chelsea
14 mins: Zenit win a throw in on the right wing and send it to Claudinho. He whips a quick cross into the box for Sardar Azmoun but he has both Cesar Azpilicueta and Andreas Christensen to deal with and the Chelsea defenders clear the ball easily enough.
Zenit 0 – 1 Chelsea
11 mins: Thomas Tuchel has taken this game as an opportunity to try out of few different things. Reece James is playing in central midfield and Saul Niguez is the left wingback. A long ball up to Lukaku is chested down to Mount who flies forward and slots a pass over to Saul on the overlap. He floats a first time cross towards Lukaku at the back post but the ball sails over his head and the attack dies down.
Zenit 0 – 1 Chelsea
8 mins: Wilmar Barrios goes from hero to zero for Zenit. Callum Hudson-Odoi attempts to shimmy around the defender but Barrios holds him off, steps in front and takes possession of the ball. He then tries to play out from the back but is penned in by Lukaku and has to kick the ball out for another Chelsea corner.
Zenit 0 – 1 Chelsea
5 mins: Christensen steps into midfield and attracts a bunch of Zenit players. He manages to poke the ball up to Barkley who runs it down the inside left channel and threads a heavy pass into the box. Werner sets off after it but he’s beaten to the ball by the goalkeeper and Chelsea’s attack breaks down.
GOAL! Zenit 0 – 1 Chelsea, (Werner, 2’)⚽️
2 mins: Glorious start for Chelsea! Ross Barkley swings the corner kick into the box. Andreas Christensen jumps high and flicks the ball to the back post where Timo Werner is all alone for the simplest of tap-ins. Chelsea take the lead.
Zenit 0 – 0 Chelsea
Kick off: There’s a mixed reception to most of the players taking the knee before Chelsea get the ball rolling. Reece James has started in central midfield alongside Ross Barkley. Saul Niguez makes a driving run into the box and gets a shot off forcing Mikhail Kerzhakov to parry the ball out for a corner.
Zenit vs Chelsea: Here come the teams
The players head out of the tunnel and onto the pitch in St. Petersburg. The Gazprom Arena will also host the final of this year’s Champions League and Chelsea will be hoping to make a return trip.
A reminder that Chelsea will top Group H if they match Juventus’ result against Malmo. A victory over Zenit St Petersburg will certainly help their cause.
Zenit vs Chelsea: Pre-match thoughts of Thomas Tuchel
In general we need fresh legs because we want to play a high-intense game and at the level we’re used to playing.
“The game today is not so much the problem. We had a day off and two days to prepare but we have to consider we play away and a late arrival on Thursday morning so we will lose sleep then play on Saturday. It is the moment to change and trust other players. We don’t want to push players.
“It was possible to start with Ruben Loftus-Cheek again but he has not played three consecutive matches at the intense level much last year. We miss Jorginho. It is very likely that Ruben will finish the game for us but very likely just the last 30 minutes.
“We need all of our players back. Romelu Lukaku gets minutes in his legs so lets see how long he can play. He is crucial to us of course. We need everyone fit.”
Zenit vs Chelsea: Thomas Tuchel yet to fully unlock clockwork Chelsea in title race defined by attacking football
After an upset like that at West Ham United, where Chelsea twice had leads overturned, it’s tempting to wonder whether an old truth has been overturned.
Defences may win you games, but it is attacks that win titles.
That may seem a curious point when Chelsea’s defeat primarily came from “too many big mistakes”, as Thomas Tuchel put it, but that is what happens when it feels like you are always just doing enough; never quite doing real damage. They take advantage of errors rather than really force them.
Tuchel yet to fully unlock clockwork Chelsea in title race defined by attack
Two wins in five have seen the Blues drop from top spot down to third
Zenit vs Chelsea: Warm ups underway
The warm ups are underway at the Gazprom Stadium. Kick off is just 15 minutes away.
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