Previewing the European Champions ahead of Wednesday night's match at the Gazprom Arena

The European Champions are our guests at the Gazprom Arena this Wednesday and we've asked Nick Williams from That Chelsea Podcast to give us the full lowdown on what Zenit can expect from the six-time league title winners. 
Previewing the European Champions ahead of Wednesday night's match at the Gazprom Arena
Malcom and Antonio Rüdiger battle it out at Stamford Bridge

Chelsea travel to St Petersburg top of group H with qualification already secured, knowing a win over Zenit will secure first place. There are injury concerns and Tuchel will try to manage his squad in this busy period so rotation can be expected as he gives minutes to those who haven’t featured that much recently. The Blues may have stumbled a bit more than they’d have liked in recent weeks but confidence in the squad should still be high and their Champions League defence has got off to an impressive start with just the one goal conceded in five games so far to go with the ten scored. In Europe’s premier club competition Chelsea still look like one of the teams to beat.

Domestically the blues sit third after a disappointing 3-2 defeat at West Ham where more uncharacteristic errors were made. As a result, they have relinquished their lead at the top of the table but are only two points off first place with plenty more twists and turns left this season. Eight points from the last five games is perhaps a slight cause for concern but more so should be the drop in the level of performances and the number of uncharacteristic errors Tuchel’s men have been making in those. The once watertight defence is perhaps slightly creaking and Tuchel will need to address that, with a misfiring attack struggling to put games to bed in recent weeks. December has tended to be a difficult month for Chelsea in recent seasons and with injuries mounting up they’ll be hoping Saturday was just a one-off rather than a sign of things to come. 

The danger men: 

One man who Zenit should fear presuming he isn’t rested is Reece James. The England international is arguably playing the best football of his Chelsea career so far and is perhaps the best in the world in that right wing back berth. With five goals and five assists in all competitions for Chelsea this season he certainly is one for Zenit to pay close attention to with his deadly finishing and brilliant delivery causing many opposition problems this season.

After not starting the last two matches for Chelsea Callum Hudson-Odoi may well be given a starting berth, particularly with Tuchel trying to manage his squad. At the start of the season he was playing games in that right wing-back role but he has been given a chance in his favoured role in the front three in recent weeks. Wherever he plays he’ll be a threat and with one goal last time out vs Juventus to go with the two assists he’s got in this year’s Champions League campaign the promising academy graduate is one to keep an eye on. 

Another player who’s gone under the radar in recent weeks has been Hakim Ziyech. His Chelsea career has been blighted by injuries but the Moroccan magician has slowly been having more of an impact on this Chelsea side providing a goal and an assist in his last two champions league games as well as a goal and assist in his last two premier league games. 

Team news and expected line up:

Ben Chilwell, N’golo Kanté, Trevoh Chalobah, Mateo Kovacic and Jorginho have all been ruled out of tomorrow’s game with injury and illness. With all these absentees Tuchel’s options in defence and midfield are very limited but there will still be options in attack. Predicting a Tuchel line up is a thankless task, especially as he tries to strike the right balance in going for the win and resting some of his key players for the game tomorrow. The Blues may well end up lining up something like this tomorrow evening:

Chelsea (3-4-3): Kepa; Azpilicueta ©, Christensen, Rudiger; James, Loftus-Cheek, Saul, Alonso; Ziyech, Werner, Hudson-Odoi

Zenit v Chelsea takes place at the Gazprom Arena this Wednesday, kick-off time 8.45pm St. Petersburg time. Huge thanks to Nick for providing the preview, if you'd like to know more about the blues give That Chelsea Podcast a look.