Chelsea in training before facing Zenit
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:
Zenit 0 – 1 Chelsea
30 mins: Chelsea win another corner that Barkley flicks towards the near post. Saul breaks off his marker and meets the ball in the air with a floaty header towards the far top corner. The ball doesn’t drop in time though and lands on the roof of the net.
Michael Jones8 December 2021 18:16
Zenit 0 – 1 Chelsea
26 mins: SAVE! A nice pass from Hudson-Odoi sends Mount into space on the right side. His cross into the box is worked clear by Yaroslav Rakitskyy. The ball comes up to Claudinho who checks inside of Christensen and draws Malang Sarr out of position. Malcom flies into the now vacant space and Claudinho slots him the ball. He drives into the box and only has Kepa Arrizabalaga to beat. Chelsea’s goalkeeper comes charging off his line and closes the gap on the winger, enough so that when the shot comes he’s able to get a hand and a leg to it and deny Zenit an equaliser! Great goalkeeping.
Michael Jones8 December 2021 18:14
Zenit 0 – 1 Chelsea
23 mins: Thomas Tuchel will probably be wanting Chelsea to retain the ball more. After their initial forays into the Zenit final third they’ve barely strung together a coherent attack. Kuzyaev gets in behind the Chelsea midfield and flies up the pitch. He sends a pass out to Malcom who carries the ball into the area and has a shot deflected out for a corner.
Michael Jones8 December 2021 18:10
Zenit 0 – 1 Chelsea
20 mins: In the other Group H game of the night Juventus have taken the lead over Malmo courtesy of Moise Kean.
Christensen just catches the back of Malcom’s heel as his arrives late for a tackle. Zenit knock the free kick back towards their own goal before working forward on the opposite flank. Claudinho switches the ball back over to the left side where Wendel and Douglas Santos combine to get in behind Hudson-Odoi. Wendel’s looking for a cross into the box but Azpilicueta skips across and knocks the ball out of play.
Michael Jones8 December 2021 18:07
Zenit 0 – 1 Chelsea
17 mins: Zenit are starting to find their feet in this game. They’re trying a few different things, a long ball here, a run down the wing there. They’re having more of the ball and pushing up the pitch. Claudinho brings it inside from the right and hits one from just outside the box. He curls it up and over the crossbar and isn’t pleased with the effort.
Michael Jones8 December 2021 18:04
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.
Michael Jones8 December 2021 17:59
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.
Michael Jones8 December 2021 17:57
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.
Michael Jones8 December 2021 17:54
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.
Michael Jones8 December 2021 17:51
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.
Michael Jones8 December 2021 17:47