Team
news and stats ahead of Zenit St Petersburg vs Chelsea in the Champions
League group stage on Wednesday; kick-off 5.45pm.
Team news
Chelsea midfielder Mateo Kovacic is isolating after testing positive for
COVID-19 ahead of their final Champions League group game at Zenit St
Petersburg, manager Thomas Tuchel said on Tuesday.
The Croatian, who has five league assists, was back in contention for the
first time since October after an injury ruled him out of Chelsea's last
eight games in all competitions.
N'Golo Kante remains sidelined with a knee issue, while Jorginho has been
forced to play through the pain of a back niggle and will now miss the trip
to Zenit.
Kovacic, Kante and Jorginho are all vital to Tuchel's 3-4-3 system as
Chelsea's stellar defensive midfielders and the Blues have battled to offset
their respective absences.
"We have bad news because Mateo was in training yesterday and with a big
smile and it was a pure pleasure to have him back," said Tuchel.
"But he tested positive today, for coronavirus, so he's quarantining for a
few days. So it's a huge setback for him personally and for all of us."
Asked if the resurgence of coronavirus has caused extra concerns at Chelsea
generally, Tuchel added: "Yes, I was aware that this can happen, me
personally.
"I'm not happy not only as a manger but also as a person. But this is the
reality at the moment, we have to face it to be ready to adapt and to do the
best thing possible to avoid transmission."
'Tuchel runs 'well-oiled' system at
Chelsea'
Zenit boss Sergei Semak has heaped praise on Thomas Tuchel's "well-oiled"
Chelsea system.
Chelsea ground past Zenit 1-0 at Stamford Bridge in September, but Semak
knows the quality of craftsmanship that manager Tuchel has put into refining
his tactical set-up.
"You're talking about individual players but I would like to point out the
importance of the system in general, they are like a German machine,
well-oiled," said Semak.
Chelsea head coach Thomas Tuchel says goalkeeper Edouard Mendy is going
through a 'rough period' and suffering from a loss of confidence.
"Every person on the pitch knows what to do and how to do it. So I would
like to refrain from talking about individual qualities, and concentrate
more on Chelsea as a team."
Zenit cannot progress in the Champions League, but that will not stop the
hosts throwing everything at Wednesday's contest.
"Playing in the Champions League is always a motivator in itself," said
Semak. "We always want to show our best. It doesn't always happen but it
doesn't mean we won't try and it doesn't mean we won't try to show our best
qualities."
Chelsea already through - when's the last
16 draw?
Chelsea and Juventus have booked their place in the round of 16 after the
Champions League holders' comprehensive 4-0 win over the Serie A side -
their heaviest-ever defeat in the competition - at Stamford Bridge on
Matchday 5.
The Blues only need to match Juve's result in the final round of fixtures in
order to top the group. Zenit are heading for the Europa League.
Opta stats
The only previous meeting between Zenit Saint Petersburg and Chelsea came
earlier in this season's UEFA Champions League, with the Blues recording a
1-0 victory at Stamford Bridge through Romelu Lukaku's second-half winner.
This will be the third time that Zenit Saint Petersburg have hosted English
opponents in European competition, while they have won on the previous two
occasions - 1-0 v Bradford City in the UEFA Intertoto Cup in July 2000 and
2-0 v Liverpool in the UEFA Europa League in February 2013.
Chelsea have won each of their three away games against Russian opponents in
the UEFA Champions League, most recently a 4-0 win against FK Krasnodar in
October 2020. As well as winning all three games, the Blues have also kept a
clean sheet on each occasion.
Including qualifiers, this will be Zenit Saint Peterburg's 200th game in
European competition (currently W97 D35 L67). They will become just the
second Russian team to reach 200 games across all European competitions,
after Spartak Moscow (277).
Since Thomas Tuchel's first UEFA Champions League game in charge of Chelsea
in February 2021, the Blues have only conceded three goals in 12 games in
the competition. Their nine clean sheets in this period is the highest total
of any team, while if they keep one in this game, they will be the fastest
team and manager combination to reach 10 clean sheets in the competition (13
games), ahead of Ajax under Louis van Gaal, AC Milan under Fabio Capello and
Real Madrid under José Mourinho (all 14 games).
Chelsea have won their last three games in the UEFA Champions League without
conceding a goal - the only previous English team to win four consecutive
games in the competition while keeping a clean sheet on each occasion is
Manchester United, who did so in 2003-04 and 2010-11 under Sir Alex
Ferguson.
Excluding own goals, Chelsea have had 14 different goal scorers in the UEFA
Champions League under Thomas Tuchel; the most of any team in the
competition since his first game in February 2021. The Blues' top scorers in
this period have scored just two goals each (Havertz, Mount, Werner, Ziyech
and Jorginho).
Artem Dzyuba has scored nine goals for Zenit Saint Petersburg in the UEFA
Champions League, and could equal Hulk (10) as the club's top scorer in the
competition. Dzyuba, however, has gone six games without scoring in the UEFA
Champions League, with his last goal coming in November 2020 versus Lazio.
Just four players have created more chances following carries (moving 5+
metres with the ball) than Chelsea's Callum Hudson-Odoi in the UEFA
Champions League this season (5). Two of these have resulted in assists,
with only Sheriff Tiraspol's Cristiano (3) providing more assists from
carries in the competition this term.
Zenit Saint Petersburg defender Yaroslav Rakitskiy has been directly
involved in three goals in the UEFA Champions League this season (one goal
and two assists); more than any other player for the Russian side, including
netting a 90th minute equaliser against Malmö last time out.
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