Chelsea v Zenit St Petersburg predictions: Champions' class to shine through

Free Champions League predictions, best bets and analysis for Chelsea v Zenit St Petersburg on Tuesday.

Where to watch

BT Sport 2, 8pm

Best bet

Chelsea to win & under 3.5 goals
2pts 20-23 Ladbrokes & Coral

Team news

Chelsea
Christian Pulisic remains out with an ankle injury, while N’Golo Kante is a doubt. Jorginho looks set to return to the midfield.

Zenit St Petersburg
Midfielder Magomed Ozdoyev is an absentee and defender Dmitri Chistyakov remains an injury doubt.

Match preview

Chelsea kickstart the defence of their Champions League crown at home to Russian league leaders Zenit St Petersburg, and it should be a straightforward evening for Thomas Tuchel’s team.

The Blues eased through the Champions League group stages last season, collecting 14 points from six games, and anything but a repeat in a section featuring Zenit, Juventus and Malmo would be deemed a big disappointment.

Tuchel took little time to become a success at Stamford Bridge and just four months after being appointed he steered Chelsea to Champions League glory.

The Londoners ground out a 1-0 victory over Premier League rivals Manchester City in the final and it is that defensive discipline that makes them such formidable opponents.

Chelsea have suffered just five defeats from 35 games under the charismatic German and they have conceded only 18 goals during his tenure.

Only 11 of those matches have rewarded backers of over 2.5 goals and just two of them have passed the four-goal mark.

The Blues have excellent shape and organisation and Tuchel’s desire to play a 3-4-2-1 formation adds extra protection to their defence.

The marquee signing of brilliant Belgian Romelu Lukaku, who has already struck three goals in as many appearances, has given Chelsea greater firepower, but they are a team who rarely cut loose.

Tuchel would rather see his players dictate the tempo of the game when in front rather than turn it into a straight shootout and those tactics point to another low-scoring Chelsea win.

The Blues have conceded just once during their first four matches this season and that came in the 1-1 draw at Liverpool, who scored from a Mohamed Salah penalty and had a man advantage for the whole of the second half.

It is extremely difficult to break down this well-oiled Chelsea machine from open play, and it seems unlikely that Zenit will have the answers.

The Russian side sit top of their division with 17 points from seven games but they have managed only one clean sheet and been held on trips to Lokomotiv Moscow and Ufa.

Zenit were the Group F whipping boys in last season’s Champions League campaign as they picked up one point from meetings with Borussia Dortmund, Lazio and Club Brugge.

Sergei Semak’s side scored four times in their six matches and on away trips to Dortmund and Brugge they were convincingly beaten to nil.

Chelsea are understandably long odds-on to make a winning start to their European adventure but punters can eke out some extra value by backing the Blues to prevail in a match featuring no more than three goals.

Key stat

Chelsea have kept clean sheets in 12 of their 16 home games under Thomas Tuchel.

Inside info

Chelsea

Penalty taker Jorginho/Romelu Lukaku
Free-kick wizard Mason Mount
Set-piece aerial threat Antonio Rudiger
Card magnet N'Golo Kante

Zenit St Petersburg

Penalty taker Sardar Azmoun
Free-kick wizardYaroslav Rakitskyi
Set-piece aerial threat Dejan Lovren
Card magnetWilmar Barrios

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