The Blues will seal top spot in Group H by matching Juventus’s result in the other game at home to Malmo, meaning a victory in Russia guarantees our progress to the last-16 as group winners.

Thomas Tuchel is without five regulars for the trip, including midfield duo Jorginho and Mateo Kovacic, the latter having tested positive for Covid-19 and subsequently facing a period of self-isolation.

Jorginho has been suffering from back pain and is also absent from the travelling party, along with Ben Chilwell, N’Golo Kante and Trevoh Chalobah.

Kai Havertz, however, does make the trip after limping off at half-time in our weekend defeat at West Ham.

The team trained earlier in the day at Cobham before making the 1,750-mile journey north-east to St Petersburg, where the temperature is minus 14C. We will kick off in the earlier 5.45pm (UK) slot on Wednesday evening.

The full Chelsea squad in Russia is:

Kepa ArrizabalagaAntonio RudigerMarcos AlonsoAndreas ChristensenThiago SilvaRomelu LukakuChristian PulisicTimo WernerRuben Loftus-CheekMarcus BettinelliEdouard MendySaul NiguezRoss BarkleyMason MountCallum Hudson-OdoiHakim ZiyechReece JamesCesar AzpilicuetaKai HavertzMalang Sarr