Chelsea v Zenit St Petersburg betting tips: Blues start title defence against Russians
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Chelsea v Zenit betting tips and odds
Chelsea start their Champions League title defence as 1/5 favourites to beat 18/1 outsiders Zenit St Petersburg at home on Tuesday night.
The Blues fully deserved to beat Manchester City in last season’s final courtesy of Kai Havertz’s excellent winner and are 7/1 for a repeat now that Romelu Lukaku is back at the club.
The Russians have made a great start to their domestic title season, so let’s take a look at the markets and odds in our Chelsea v Zenit betting tips.
Match Odds
Lukaku warmed up for Tuesday’s game with a clinical double in Saturday’s 3-0 victory over Aston Villa to make it three goals in as many starts and the Belgian will lead the line against the Russians, who have won five and drawn two of their seven games domestically to top the table.
Chelsea have won three and drawn one of their four Premier League games, conceding just once and that was a penalty in the 1-1 draw against Liverpool where the visitors played with 10 men for the second half, so we go 7/10 on the Blues to win to nil or 20/23 for a victory and under 3.5 match goals.
Thomas Tuchel’s side won both halves against Crystal Palace and Aston Villa, so it’s 7/5 on a repeat in that market for Tuesday’s Chelsea v Zenit betting tips.
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Zenit’s mixture of Russians and Brazilian could prove competitive, but they took just one point from their six group games against Borussia Dortmund, Lazio and Brugge last season, losing by at least two goals in all three away matches.
In our #GetAPrice specials, Chelsea to win either half, score at least twice and keep a clean sheet is 6/5.
Talking Tactics
Tuchel deployed a 3-4-2-1 against Villa and named six starters who had not played during the international break so the likes of Mason Mount and Anders Christensen could return.
Kai Havertz and Hakim Ziyech played behind Lukaku, but Saul Niguez struggled with the pace on his Premier League debut and was replaced at half-time by Jorginho.
N’Golo Kante missed the game having sustained an injury against Liverpool, but could be back in time to face Zenit, although Christian Pulisic has been on crutches with an ankle problem since returning from the international break and is out for 10 days.
The Blues struggled against Villa’s aggressive, pressing tactics on Saturday and started playing long balls to Lukaku, but they are likely to revert to their possession-based game.
Zenit tend to play in a 4-4-2 formation using a mixture of strikers, but Artem Dzyuba and Sardar Azmoun could be tasked with leading the line.
Goalscorer Odds
Lukaku is the 2/1 favourite to get the ball rolling and just 3/5 to score any time, while Jorginho is 6/1 and 11/5 in the same markets in Tuesday’s Chelsea v Zenit betting tips
Mateo Kovacic capitalised on a mistake from Tyrone Mings to score a rare goal at the weekend and is 6/1 to get on the scoresheet again.
Zenit’s goals have been shared between Wendel, Alexandr Erokhin, Malcolm, Azmoun and Alex Sutormin this season and they are 14/1, 8/1, 17/2, 4/1 and 9/1 respectively to score, while Dzyuba is 4/1.
Match Info
Where: Stamford Bridge
When: 20:00, Tuesday 14th September
How to watch: BT Sport
All odds and markets correct as of date of publication
