Wednesday evening, from 17:55 pm, Zenit St. Petersburg receives the visit of Olympique Lyon, on a bitter cold that will influence the performance of the match at Gazprom Arena. Lyon has a 3.15 share in the move from Zenith, when the Russians have a very good balance at home.
The Russians hope to take an important step towards qualifying in front of Ciprian Tatarusanu’s team, even if Zenit has lot problems. Malcom and Mammana are absent, while Lunev, Shatov, Zhirkov and Zuykov are uncertain. Guests come without Aouar to St. Petersburg, and golfer Memphis Depay has some medical issues that could keep the cough.
Group G of the Champions League is still open to any result, although RB Leipzig already seems to qualify further, with 9 points in 4 matches (6-4 goals). Lyon is in 2nd place, with 7 points (7-4 goal), while Zenit is 3 (5-6), with 4 points. Therefore, a victory on their own ground would completely change the calculations, in favor of the Russians. Benfica is in 4th place, with 3 points (5-9), and the Portuguese have little chance of progress.
Lyon and Zenit drew in the tour, in France, score 1-1. Azmoun opened the scoring for Zenit in the 41st minute, but Depay equalized from the penalty at the beginning of the second half (’50). In four straight duels so far, Lyon won only once, in a friendly match! Otherwise, the Champions League meetings ended with two wins for Zenit and an equal.
Zenit comes after good results in the championship, with a draw in front of CSKA Moscow (1-1), but also two away victories, with Arsenal Tula (1-0) and Rubin Kazan (2-1). Last stage of UCL, Zenit gave up home to RB Leipzig, score 0-2. Lyon comes after four wins in the last five championship stages, and goals are ubiquitous in Olympique’s matches. The Lyons have quality in attack, but the defense is not great and this will cost the guests.
THE PROBABLE EQUIPMENT OF ZENIT – LYON
Zenit St Petersburg: Kerzhakov; Karavaev, Ivanovic, Rakitskiy, Santos; Kuzyaev, Barrios, Ozdoev, Driussi; People, Dzyuba
Lyon: Lopes; Dubois, Andersen, Denayer, Marcal; Mendes, Tousart; Traore, Terrier, Reine-Adelaide; Dembele
PREDICTION: Both teams to score / YES @ 1,58
