Zenit vs Chelsea Odds: Lukaku to fire Chelsea to top of Group H

As usual we have a full raft of eight Champions League games on Wednesday and our man @OddsTerrier has concentrated on the Group H Clash in St Petersburg. You can find previews/tips on all the major UCL games on site.

There's still all to play for in Group H as Chelsea and Juventus battle it out for top spot. The Blues have far better goal difference but will probably need to win here given Juve will most likely do so at home versus bottom of the league Malmo. With that in mind and given that Chelsea have so many out injured then it really limits Thomas Tuchel's options regarding rotating the squad. It's likely he will play his full strength available starting line up and may even unleash Romelu Lukaku here from the start after his return from injury. 

Zenit enter this one knowing their spot in the Europa League is all but mathematically secured. They are top of their domestic division but would like to get some form together in European competition before entering the weaker competition. The match kicks off at 5.45pm and is live on BT Sport. Chelsea are a 4/7 favourite to win here with the draw 10/3 and Zenit generally available at 11/2.

I've crunched the numbers and stats and have selected a triple selection for Wednesdays fixture which you can find below.

Team News:

FC Zenit: Stanislav Kritsyuk is out injured for Zenit and Dmitriy Chistyakov is out suspended after his red last time out.

Chelsea: Mateo Kovacic is back from injury but has now tested positive for Covid. Trevoh Chalobah, Jorginho, Ben Chilwell and N'Golo Kante are all still injured but Marcos Alonso and Kai Havertz should travel here.

As mentioned above, it's highly likely that Romelu Lukaku will be let off the leash here. Thomas Tuchel has been meticulously managing his minutes since his long return from injury but a lot rides on this fixture and Chelsea have been in, by their standards, a slump.

Lukaku is averaging 3 shots per game in the Champions League and almost one on target per game. Against lesser opposition here I expect this number to go up. 

He's 6/4 with William Hill to have 2+ shots on target.

24-year-old Brazilian Wendel is averaging almost a shot on target a game in the UCL. The central midfielder also averages almost 2 shots per game in the Russian Premier league so is clearly fond of a shot. He's best priced at 3/1 with Paddy Power to hit the target again here.

I've gone for a long odds bet builder for my last selection. The bets combined pay around 19/1 but William Hill boosts the odds with its #YourOdds algorithm way up to 30/1.

The selections are:

• Lukaku Anytime Goalscorer 
• Under 2.5 goals
• Hakim Ziyech to be shown a card

Chelsea have kept a clean sheet in 6 of their last 7 Champions League matches and I certainly don't see this being a big scoring game. 

Ziyech has committed most fouls for Chelsea in the UCL and has picked up three yellows across that competition and the Premier League. In a tight game here I can see Ziyech getting frustrated here and kicking out.

If you decide to take any of these selections good luck and bet reponsibly.