Zenit have last 16 in sight at struggling Lyon

FC Zenit will look to prolong their historic winning streak and inflict further misery on Olympique Lyonnais when the teams meet at the Stade de Gerland on matchday four.

• Zenit beat Lyon 3-1 in St Petersburg on 20 October with goals from Artem Dzyuba, Hulk and Danny. Alexandre Lacazette scored for Lyon in what was their first ever defeat by a Russian team.

• With three victories, Zenit have made their best start to a UEFA Champions League campaign and need just one more win to reach the last 16. Lyon have made their worst start; never before have they reached the midway point of a UEFA Champions League group stage without a win to their name.

Match background

Lyon
• With one point from three matches, Lyon sit bottom of Group H and will be eliminated if they fail to beat Zenit and Valencia CF overcome KAA Gent in the other fixture in the section.

• Lyon have suffered defeats in their last two European home matches, going down to Valencia (0-1) on matchday two and, before that, losing to Romania's FC Astra Giurgiu (1-2) in the 2014/15 UEFA Europa League play-offs.

• They have won their two previous home matches against Russian opposition – 3-1 against FC Rubin Kazan in the 2011/12 UEFA Champions League play-offs and 3-0 against FC Spartak Mosvka in the 2000/01 second group stage.

• Bakary Koné and Maxime Gonalons played in that win over Rubin – with Koné scoring in the 1-1 second-leg draw in Russia. Steed Malbranque, meanwhile, appeared as a substitute in the 2000 home meeting with Spartak.

Zenit
• Zenit can guarantee qualification for the knockout rounds with a victory. A draw would be enough if Gent fail to beat Valencia in the other game.

• Last season Zenit's UEFA Champions League hopes vanished away to Ligue 1 opposition when they lost 2-0 at AS Monaco FC in their final group fixture.

• Their overall away record against Ligue 1 clubs is W1 D0 L4. Vyacheslav Malafeev and Aleksandr Anyukov are survivors of Zenit's only previous win in France – 1-0 at Olympique de Marseille in the 2005/06 UEFA Cup round of 16.

Coach and player links
• André Villas-Boas was coach of the Tottenham Hotspur FC team who overcame Lyon in the 2012/13 UEFA Europa League round of 32. Spurs won 2-1 at home and drew 1-1 in France.

• Javi García scored for SL Benfica in a 4-3 home win over Lyon in the 2010/11 group stage – albeit after suffering a 2-0 defeat at the Stade de Gerland.

• Ezequiel Garay played in the Real Madrid CF side beaten by Lyon in the UEFA Champions League round of 16 (agg 1-2) in 2009/10.

• Mathieu Valbuena lost 2-1 at Zenit on 19 July this year with his former club FC Dinamo Moskva. In September 2014, he scored a spectacular chip and provided the assist for Dinamo's second goal in a defeat away to Zenit (2-3).

• Nicolas Lombaerts and Axel Witsel appeared in Belgium's 4-3 away victory over a France side including Valbuena and substitutes Alexandre Lacazatte and Nabil Fekir on 7 June this year.

• Players who have played together:
Artur Yusupov & Valbuena (Dinamo Moskva)
Hulk & Rafael (Brazil)
Danny, Luís Neto & Anthony Lopes (Portugal)

Match facts

Lyon
• Jordan Ferri, Gonalons and Samuel Umtiti are all a booking away from a ban.

• Claudio Beauvue converted a 78th-minute penalty as Lyon edged a 1-0 victory over a ES Troyes AC side down to ten men for over 50 minutes on Saturday. The result ended a run of five away games without a win. 

• Henri Bedimo (out since 20 September, thigh) returned to action on Saturday when Koné, who has not played since 1 August because of a heel problem, was an unused substitute.

• Sergi Darder, Valbuena and Maxwell Cornet scored their first goals for Lyon in the 3-0 home victory against Toulouse FC on 23 October.

• Milan Biševac (hamstring) has been out since going off six minutes into Lyon's 1-0 triumph over Stade de Reims on 3 October.

• Aldo Kalulu injured his left ankle – sprain and ligament damage – in training on 13 October and was signed off for two months.

• Nabil Fekir, a scorer of four goals in as many Ligue 1 appearances in 2015/16, suffered ligament and meniscus damage to his right knee on his first start for France, a 1-0 victory in Portugal on 4 September.

• Clément Grenier (thigh) and Gueïda Fofana (ankle) are yet to play this season.

Zenit
• Javi García and Hulk will incur a suspension with their next bookings.

• Villas-Boas returned to the dugout for Saturday's 0-0 draw with FC Mordovia Saransk after completing a six-match Russian Premier-Liga touchline ban imposed for his dismissal during Zenit's home loss to PFC Krylya Sovetov Samara on 29 August.

• Zenit are 12 games undefeated (W7 D5) in all competitions since the Krylya Sovetov fixture. The Blue-White-Sky Blues have registered 31 goals in that time.

• Dzyuba has scored nine goals in his last eight appearances for Zenit. He struck twice against FC Tosno on 28 October as the St Petersburg side eased into the Russian Cup quarter-finals.

• Before being kept out by Mordovia on Saturday, Dzyuba had scored in seven successive matches, matching a club record held by Vladimir Kazachenok (1981, nine goals) and Aleksandr Kerzhakov (2002, 11 goals).

• Hulk sustained a thigh injury against Tosno and missed out at the weekend.

• Igor Smolnikov returned on Saturday after five games out with an adductor injury suffered on international duty.