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Kick off: Tuesday, 20.10.2015. @20:45
Venue: Stadion Petrovskij
Head to head record
No past meetings
Zenit vs Olympique Lyon prediction
Tuesday’s Champions League clash at Stadio Petrovskij sees Russian side Zenit take on French outfit Olympique Lyon in their third group game. Les Gones are eager to record their first win in Group H, but the clash against the Zenitchiki will be anything but a walk in the park of the visitors.
100% record
Zenit kicked off their Champions League campaign in great manner, with the team beating Valencia at Estadio de Mestalla 3-2. As expected, the Russian outfit outplayed Gent at Stadion Petrovskij in their second group game and Andre Villas-Boas will be looking to keep their 100% record intact in the process with a victory over Olympique Lyon on Tuesday night. Zenit dropped two points in Saturday’s Russian Premier League match against Kuban Krasnodar and, as a result, league leaders CSKA increased their advantage over the Zenitchiki to ten points. AVB’s troops are unlikely to win the domestic trophy, but they are surely capable of recording a good result in the Champions League this term. The Russian side failed to reach the knockout stages of the elite competition last term, but they are on the right track to make it to the last 16 this time out. A man to watch in the home side will be Brazilian attacker Hulk, who has netted two goals in the Champions League this season.
Igor Smolnikov has yet to recover from his injury, but coach Andre Villas-Boas has no fresh injury worries ahead of the Olympique Lyon game. In-form attacker Artem Dzyuba is widely expected to lead the line for the hosts against les Gones.
Slow start
Olympique Lyon chiefs decided to keep hold of their key players in the summer transfer window, with French star Mathieu Valbuena joining the club. That caused a great dissatisfaction in Marseille, but the former Dinamo Moscow player has yet to find his form. Valbuena has yet to score in the 2015/2021 Ligue 1 campaign, while key attacker Alexandre Lacazette has netted no more than two goals to date. The fans, though, still have faith in the Arsenal target and he is widely expected to lead the line for les Gones against Zenit. Lyon have yet to record a win in the 2015/2021 Champions League campaign, with the team sharing the spoils with Gent in Belgium, while suffering a 1-0 loss to Valencia in front of home fans. Anyhow, the French outfit face an uphill task in Tuesday’s match against Zenit and they need to be at the top of their game if they are to grab something from the match.
Milan Bisevac, Nabil Fekir, Aldo Kalulu, Kone and Henri Bedimo are all sidelined with injury, but Rafael and Yanga-Mbiwa have overcome their respective injuries and they are likely to play against Zenit.
Zenit vs Olympique Lyon betting tip
Zenit are superior to Olympique Lyon at the moment and seeing that the Zenitchiki are a real force to be reckoned with at home, there is every chance the French side will experience all sorts of problems in Tuesday’s clash against Andre Villas-Boas’ troops. The visitors will surely adopt an attack-minded approach against Zenit, meaning that the Russian side should have a number of opportunities to attack their rivals on the break.
Tip: Zenit to win
Odds: 1.95 (10/11) at 10Bet
