Chelsea vs Krasnodar: UEFA Champions League background, form guide, previous meetings

Chelsea will be looking to finish their successful Group E campaign on a high as they welcome Krasnodar to London.

• Both sides' finishing positions in the section were confirmed on Matchday 5. While Olivier Giroud was scoring all Chelsea's goals in a 4-0 win at Sevilla that confirmed the English side in first place and their Spanish opponents in second, Marcus Berg's second-half strike in Russia enabled Krasnodar to see off fellow group stage debutants Rennes to make sure of third position.

• Chelsea were 4-0 winners in Russia on Matchday 2, Callum Hudson-Odoi's 37th-minute opener added to in the closing stages by Timo Werner (76 pen), Hakim Ziyech (79) with his first goal for the club and Christian Pulišić (90).

Form guide
Chelsea

• Held 0-0 at home by Sevilla on Matchday 1, the London club followed up their win at Krasnodar by beating Rennes home (3-0) and away (2-1) to secure progress. They made sure of first place in emphatic style, Giroud becoming the first Chelsea player to score four times in a European Cup match – and at 34 years 63 days the oldest hat-trick scorer in UEFA Champions League history – with a four-goal haul at Sevilla.

• Chelsea have won four successive UEFA Champions League matches for the fourth time. Only once before have they made it five wins in a row – in the 2010/11 group stage.

• Fourth in the Premier League in 2019/20, this is Chelsea's 17th venture into the UEFA Champions League group stage and a third in four years. The exception came in 2018/19, when they won the UEFA Europa League under Maurizio Sarri.

• Chelsea's last four UEFA Champions League campaigns have all ended in the round of 16. In 2019/20 they were heavily beaten home (0-3) and away (1-4) by eventual champions Bayern München at that stage. The loss in Munich is the London club's only defeat in 14 European away matches (W10 D3).

• Last season Frank Lampard's side recovered from a Matchday 1 defeat at home to Valencia (0-1) to progress as Group H runners-up with 11 points, finishing behind the Spanish side on head-to-head record.

• Despite their four victories this season, the Blues have won only five of their last ten UEFA Champions League matches (D3 L2).

• Chelsea have won only two of their last seven European matches at Stamford Bridge (D3 L2).

• European champions in 2012 having been runners-up four years earlier, Chelsea have now reached the round of 16 on 15 occasions.

• The London side have now won their UEFA Champions League group 12 times, although they were runners-up in their section on each of their previous two participations before this season.

• Chelsea have won six of their seven games against Russian clubs, the exception a 3-2 loss at Rubin in the 2012/13 UEFA Europa League quarter-final second leg – a tie they won 5-4 on aggregate en route to lifting the trophy.

• The Blues were 3-1 winners at home to Rubin in that tie, making it nine goals scored and two conceded in their three games against Russian clubs at Stamford Bridge.

• Overall Chelsea have scored 18 goals in their seven games against Russian sides, conceding only five.

Krasnodar

• Having marked their UEFA Champions League group stage debut with a first point in the competition thanks to a 1-1 draw at Rennes, Krasnodar followed the home defeat by Chelsea by going down 3-2 at Sevilla, in a game they led 2-0, and 2-1 at home against the Spanish side. They got their first group win at the fifth attempt, Berg scoring the only goal at home to Rennes on Matchday 5.

• Krasnodar are the seventh Russian club to compete in the UEFA Champions League group stage, and the first newcomers from the country since Rostov in 2016/17.

• This is only Krasnodar's seventh season in UEFA competition – they have featured every year since making their debut in the 2014/15 UEFA Europa League. In 2019/20, they were eliminated by Olympiacos in the UEFA Champions League play-offs and went on to finish third in their UEFA Europa League section behind Basel and Getafe, picking up nine points from their six matches (W3 L3).

• Third in the Russian Premier League for the second season in a row in 2019/20, Krasnodar had only played four European Cup matches before 2020/21. The first ended in a 1-0 home defeat by Porto in the 2019/20 third qualifying round first leg, only for them to then turn round the tie with a remarkable 3-2 victory in Portugal in which they led 3-0 at half-time. However, Olympiacos proved too strong for Murad Musaev's team in the play-offs, winning 4-0 in Greece and 2-1 in Russia.

• Krasnodar had no such problems in this season's play-off, winning both legs of their tie against Greek club PAOK 2-1 with Rémy Cabella scoring the winner in each game.

• The Russian club have won two of their last five European away games (D1 L2).

• Krasnodar's only games against English clubs before this season came against Everton in the 2014/15 UEFA Europa League group stage, a 1-1 home draw – Ari scoring their goal – preceding a 1-0 away victory on Matchday 6 that was their only win in the section.

Links and trivia
• Has played in England:
Rémy Cabella (Newcastle 2014/15)

• Cabella helped Newcastle to a 2-1 home Premier League win against Chelsea on 6 December 2014; he was also in the team beaten 2-0 at Stamford Bridge the following month.

• Cabella and Giroud were Montpellier team-mates in their 2011/12 Ligue 1 triumph and also played together for France in 2014.

• Thiago Silva was on the books at Dinamo Moskva in 2005, although a serious illness meant he did not make a first-team appearance.

• N'Golo Kanté scored his first international goal in France's 4-2 friendly win against Russia at the Stade de France in March 2016.

• Kai Havertz set up a goal in Germany's 3-0 friendly defeat of Russia in November 2018.

Latest news

Chelsea

• Olivier Giroud became the 17th player to score four or more goals in a UEFA Champions League game on Matchday 5.

• Chelsea are unbeaten in 16 games in all competitions (W10 D6); they have won eight of their last nine matches, the exception a goalless draw at home to Tottenham on 29 November. They were 3-1 winners against Leeds at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, Giroud again finding the net to make it six goals in his last four Chelsea appearances.

• The London club scored 25 goals in those eight victories, conceding only three.

• Chelsea have won 11 of their 18 fixtures in all competitions this season, losing only one – 2-0 at home to champions Liverpool in the Premier League on 20 September.

• Having managed Chelsea for 62 matches without a goalless draw, Frank Lampard oversaw two scoreless matches in succession – against Sevilla on Matchday 1 and at Manchester United in the Premier League. The draw with Spurs made it three stalemates in nine fixtures.

• The Blues have scored 25 goals in their 11 Premier League matches in 2020/21, and have managed three or more in ten of their last 17 league fixtures.

Edouard Mendy has only conceded four goals in his Chelsea careerGetty Images

• Edouard Mendy kept clean sheets on his first three Premier League appearances for Chelsea, the first goalkeeper to do so since Petr Čech in 2004. He has kept nine clean sheets in his 13 Blues outings, David McGoldrick's ninth-minute goal for Sheffield United in Chelsea's 4-1 home win on 7 November ending his run of 556 minutes without conceding.

• Giroud is now seven goals behind France's record scorer Thierry Henry having taken his international tally to 44 with a double in France's 4-2 win at home to Sweden on 17 November, three days after club colleague N'Golo Kanté's goal secured a 1-0 win away to Portugal that booked the world champions' place at next year's UEFA Nations League Finals.

• Timo Werner scored twice, taking his tally to 15 international goals, as Germany defeated Ukraine 3-1 in the UEFA Nations League on 14 November at his former home ground in Leipzig.

• Jorginho's penalty helped Italy to a 2-0 UEFA Nations League win at home to Poland on 15 November; three days later, Jorginho and Emerson, who had also played 90 minutes against Poland, were in the team that won 2-0 in Bosnia and Herzegovina to book a Finals place.

• On 17 November, Mateo Kovačić scored his second and third international goals – and his first since June 2015 – as Croatia lost 3-2 at home to Portugal in the UEFA Nations League.

• On 13 November, Hakim Ziyech got two goals in Morocco's 4-1 CAF Africa Cup of Nations win against the Central African Republic and also opened the scoring in the subsequent 2-0 victory away to the same opponents four days later.

• Mason Mount scored England's second goal in a 4-0 UEFA Nations League win at home to Iceland on 18 November.

• Callum Hudson-Odoi was on target against both Andorra (3-1) and Albania (5-0) in qualifying for the 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship.

• Billy Gilmour, who had been sidelined by a knee injury since 9 July, returned as a substitute in Scotland's 2-2 draw at home to Croatia in 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying on 12 November, although he was sent off eight minutes after his introduction.

• Christian Pulišić was out between 1 August and 3 October with a hamstring injury, and then from 31 October to 29 November with a similar problem.

• Thiago Silva and Kai Havertz are among the candidates for UEFA.com fans' Men's Team of the Year.

Krasnodar
• Eleven Krasnodar players made their debuts in the UEFA Champions League, group stage to final, on Matchday 1, including 34-year-old striker Marcus Berg.

• Krasnodar have picked up 24 points from their first 17 league games of 2020/21, nine fewer than at the same stage of last season. They have suffered four defeats in their last six Premier League matches.

• The Bulls were 5-0 winners at home to Rotor Volgograd on Saturday, Ari and Viktor Claesson both scoring twice in what was only their club's third victory in their last 11 matches in all competitions (D1 L7). They have won three of their last five games, a 1-0 home victory against Tambov on 21 November having ended a run of five successive losses.

• The wins against Tambov, Rennes and Rotor are also Krasnodar's only clean sheets in their last 20 games.

• The 7-2 win at home to Khimki on 18 September was the first time Krasnodar have ever scored seven goals in a game. It was their biggest margin of victory since a 5-0 home success against Anzhi on 31 March 2019.

• Claesson's opening goal could not prevent Sweden suffering a 4-2 defeat away to France in the UEFA Nations League on 17 November.

• Ari came on as substitute against Tambov, his first appearances since 15 March. He made his first start of the season against Rotor on Saturday.

• Sergei Petrov will be out of action for the rest of this year with a hamstring injury suffered in Rennes on Matchday 1.

Matvey Safonov returned to action against RennesIcon Sport via Getty Images

• Goalkeeper Matvei Safonov returned on Matchday 5, his first appearance since 8 November due to illness; Dmitri Stotski is still unavailable through injury.

• Yuri Gazinski suffered a back injury on Matchday 5 and sat out the weekend win.

• Daniil Utkin is among the contenders for the Russian Premier League's best young player award.