An apparently wide-open Group G of the Champions League kick starts on Tuesday night where French team Lyon will face Zenit St Petersburg at the Groupama Stadium. Lyon arrived at the last 16 of the challenge in 2018-19, under the management of former Arsenal and Barcelona man Sylvinho, while Zenit are reaching this stage for the first time since 2015-16. During the gathering phases of last season, Lyon won a lot of admirers – stunned Europe with a 2-1 triumph away to Premier League champions Manchester City on match day one. Following a three-year absence, it is a relatively kind return to Champions League action for Zenit with Benfica and RB Leipzig being drawn alongside them in Group G. Read below for prediction, news and more.

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Playing 11 Prediction

For the majority of the summer changes at Lyon, they are yet ready to call upon likes of Moussa Dembele, Memphis Depay and Houssem Aouar. Scoring nine goals between them in just five games, Depay and Dembele specifically have started the season in fine form. Meanwhile, Aouar came back from a groin injury during Friday night's 2-2 draw with Amiens and should be fit to include again in this match. In the meantime, Zenit will be without former Barcelona winger Malcom, who was an unused sub in both legs against Lyon in the round-of-16 last season and is currently sidelined with hip damage until early October. The guests are relied upon former Chelsea defensive duo Branislav Ivanovic and Yuri Zhirkov once again, whereas Artem Dzyuba and Sardar Azmoun mostly lead the line.

Lyon vs Zenit

• Lyon: Lopes; Dubois, Andersen, Denayer, Koné; Thiago Mendes, Tousart, Aouar; Traoré, Dembélé, Depay
• Out: none
• Doubtful: none

• Zenit: Lunev; Smolnikov, Ivanović, Rakits'kyy, Zhirkov; Kuzyaev, Barrios, Douglas Santos, Shatov; Azmoun, Dzyuba
• Out: Malcom (thigh)
• Doubtful: none

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Speculation

Lyon have lost only one of their last 14 European home games, in spite of the fact that the French outfit are winless in their last three local matches. On the other hand, Zenit have started the defence of their title by rapidly growing back up to the top of the table. In what could end up being an extremely tight group, it might be the home records which have the effect. Lyon drew all of their home gathering games 2-2 last season, yet we are supporting them to have enough to get each all three points this time around, especially thinking about Zenit's away hardships in Europe.

• Lyon form: WWLDD
• Zenit form: DWDLWW

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