Sardar Azmoun @ Zenit St. Petersburg 2021/22

[inarsenewetrust]

Barrios made it to London after uk govt special clearance.

Not that it particularly matters as I see little hope for zenit anyways but he will help keep score line semi respectable

[Karimi 8]

Another mixed feelings match for me as a Chelsea supporter haha

[Nokhodi]

It will be a very comfortable win for Chelsea. Will be surprised if Azmoun even gets a decent half chance.

[BacheLot]

lets hope Semak doesnt try to run at Chelsea, like its a RPL match of sort..!! they are bound to embarrass themselves if so..!
just park the bus and have Sardar ready in MF to run at them on the counter ...!!
i dont know , i have a feeling Zenit will give a decent account of themselves regardless of a likely narrow loss today..!!
i havent seen chelsea in action this season yet but last season's chelsea didnt strike me as a side set up to rape any team..!!? they are tactically set up to just grab a narrow win and ensure clean sheet..!!

[sedee91]

Let's just hope he doesn't get injured by Chelsea's strong players

[Babak_Shirazi]

lets hope Semak doesnt try to run at Chelsea, like its a RPL match of sort..!! they are bound to embarrass themselves if so..!
just park the bus and have Sardar ready in MF to run at them on the counter ...!!
i dont know , i have a feeling Zenit will give a decent account of themselves regardless of a likely narrow loss today..!!
i havent seen chelsea in action this season yet but last season's chelsea didnt strike me as a side set up to rape any team..!!? they are tactically set up to just grab a narrow win and ensure clean sheet..!!

With Lukaku upfront now they can penetrate every side, Zenit will be raped tonight unfortunately

[PSGman#19]

With Lukaku upfront now they can penetrate every side, Zenit will be raped tonight unfortunately

With lukaku they are indeed stronger than last year. I can see a 5/0

[fairplay]

Let's just hope he doesn't get injured by Chelsea's strong players

Watch out for Ruediger

[Abtin]

pics from training:
https://en.fc-zenit.ru/photo/50330/

[PrinceAli]

Starting as expected

[fairplay]

Isn't it Sardar's turn to score an spectacular goal against Chelsea??

[inarsenewetrust]

Front 6 players are the best they have. Without barrios I would said they have zero chance of keeping it 2 goals or less. Thankfully he is there. Wendel is in great form and a smart midfielder who has good connection with sardar so far this season, assisting him a few times. The wingers malcom and claudinho have typical begir nagir brazilian style. Hopefully tonight on the break they can cause damage, but more likely to just cause turnovers.

Back 4 is an issue. No lovren or Karavayev who are usually starters for Croatia/Russia too. Replacement guys are not even in Russian NT. God help them tonight.

As for Sardar, again I have zero expectation he will score. But for me a successful game tonight would be controlling ~70% of the long balls that come his way on the break, laying them off to mids. This will be a hard task with CL winning defense marking him, but if he can do that it shows big improvement in his hold up game as lone striker. If he gets any type of chance minimum expectation in such a game is forcing a good save from the GK. Zenit will be under tremendous pressure from minute 1 and he needs to do his best to give his team some respite.

[Abtin]

Isn't it Sardar's turn to score an spectacular goal against Chelsea??

Huge pressure on him

[Ghermez Agha]

Love that Semak is going with all 3 Brazilian MF/Wingers Malcolm claudinho and wendel that should be good for azmoun to work with.

Then again I think to break this Chelsea D they needed the physical presence of dzyuba up front….if they go down 1-0 at half like I expect them to, then hopefully Semak brings Dzubya on early in the 2nd half or at HT

[The Realist]

It will be interesting to see how Sardar fair against an elite premier league defence?

He can improve his chances of being noticed by British scouts if he scores against a Chelsea side that has only conceded 1 goal in 4 matches!