UEFA Champions League: Chelsea vs. Zenit Preview, Odds, Prediction

Chelsea begins its UEFA Champions League defense at Stamford, where they host Zenit St. Petersburg. There is no need to say that the Blues come in as heavy favorites, but many people don’t know how good Zenit actually is. The Russian champions are one of the most exciting teams for watching in Europe, because they always want to score, regardless of the current result. Their offensive capabilities are quite solid, and we recommend keeping a close eye on this unit. It could be profitable in the long run.

Preview

Chelsea (-520) had a routine task against Aston Villa this Saturday, winning 3-0 without spending too much energy. Romelu Lukaku netted twice, picking up where he left before the international break, proving that he might be the final piece of Chelsea’s championship puzzle.

The Blues’ last defeat came in May, and after that, Tuchel’s team knew nothing but success. In two EPL games at home, Chelsea posted triumphs with the same result, 3-0, and apart from beating Villa, they solved Crystal Palace in the same manner.

As you see, it is very hard to score against the English powerhouse, and last year’s UCL title came primarily due to an incredibly good back line. Tuchel would make the Blues arguably the best defensive team in Europe, and as you see, he didn’t change anything this summer.

Zenit (+1400) is even better than Chelsea when looking at the winning streak. Their previous failure was against Rubin in Kazan way back in early March. After that, they went on to play 20 games without a defeat.

This year’s balance says six wins and two draws for the Russian champions who posted those couple of draws on the road. Two of those eight events weren’t with both teams netting, while five ended up with over 2.5 scores.

As mentioned earlier, Zenit is an offensive-minded team, and they won’t be defending at Stamford, be sure of that. This unite is eager to attack any rival, and even though Chelsea stands as a massive favorite, we expect to see the Russians applying the same tactics in London.

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N’Golo Kante is still questionable, and we don’t know whether would Tuchel risk anything. Thiago Silva should play, while Christian Pulisic won’t be in the lineup for sure.

On the other side, Magomed Ozdoev is the only one who won’t be able to face Chelsea. Malcolm was questionable in the past few days, but we saw him this Saturday against Akhmat.

Head to Head Games

Chelsea and Zenit didn’t meet in the past.

Prediction

The Blues will win three points here, but betting on their plain victory isn’t that profitable. Staking 520 bucks to win 100 isn’t that appealing for any bettor. In our opinion, betting on Chelsea’s win and adding over 2.5 goals would be better. Odds on that are close to -110, and that is something tempting. With Zenit’s style of play, we really expect to see goals here, particularly because of Lukaku, who is playing in great shape.

Pick: Chelsea to win and over 2.5 goals -110

Here are the previews for more UEFA Champions League games:

• Barcelona vs. Bayern Munich
• Besiktas vs. Borussia Dortmund
• Club Brugge vs. PSG
• Manchester City vs. RB Leipzig
• Inter Milan vs. Real Madrid
• Liverpool vs. Inter Milan