Our young Blues must avoid defeat by a two-goal margin to ensure a safe passage into the UEFA Youth League play-off round, which pits group runners-up away against a side advancing through the Domestic Champions pathway.

Andy Myers and his boys will be looking to make their lives comfortable by winning this game, though he will be aware of the fact that complacency could make an otherwise straightforward target complicated.

Team news

There could be a return to the line-up for Josh Brooking, the young central defender who has been out for a number of games but made a small cameo against Derby County in last week's PL2 fixture, which puts him in contention.

Silko Thomas has returned to action too following concussion and he will be pushing for a spot in the team, while Ben Elliott continues to make progress from a long-term absence. With his squad size increasing, Myers will have a big decision to make on the starting 11 he goes with in Russia.

Last time out

Our young Blues suffered a tough 3-1 loss at home to Juventus a couple of weeks ago. Joe Haigh did manage to pull a goal back late for us in that one and arguably we had chances to add to our goal tally. Despite this, we failed to sustain our attacks against a very good Juve side who will be looking to go far in this competiton.

The reverse

The last time we faced Zenit was on matchday one and we managed to secure a 3-1 victory in that one with the added bonus of our opponents going down to 10 men.

Our Russian opponents took the lead in the first half, which momentarily caused panic. However, Charlie Webster was able to pull us level 10 minutes into the second half. Harvey Vale gave us the lead after slotting home from the penalty spot and Jude Soonsup-Bell added the cherry on top with the third. To add insult to injury, Zenit had a man sent off in the 70th minute of the game.

View from the dressing room

It has been an unusual build-up to the game for our youngsters, who didn’t train on Tuesday due to travelling and the early kick-off in St Petersburg, and boss Andy Myers believes it will be a day to show character as well as quality.

‘The biggest thing is going to be mentality,’ he told us after landing in Russia. ‘We’re going to be facing the elements, the time difference and just a big change for the boys so in big games like this it’s all about making sure you’re prepared for what’s needed really.

‘We trained on Monday but it’s been pretty tough in terms of getting a group together. We’ve gone from a weekend with the Premier League 2 game on Friday and the youth team game on Saturday and then we’ve got to try to come together.

‘We couldn’t do too much on Sunday so all of the tactical and technical preparation was in the Monday session and then you’re travelling so it’s not a normal preparation but that’s also not a bad thing at times. It will be something different so we just have to go out there and give everything.’

Although the men’s team will be playing at the Gazprom Arena with its retractable roof and temperature-regulated micro-environment, the Under-19s will be facing the full force of the elements at the 3,000-capacity Smena Stadium on the outskirts of St Petersburg.

Europe’s fourth-most populous city has been in the midst of a particularly harsh winter spell, even by Russian standards, and the mercury dial is expected to hit -12C. Myers admitted that the team’s game day preparations would be crucial in such conditions but he is also not underestimating the opposition.

Zenit lost 4-1 at Cobham back in September, a result they need to overturn in order to pip us to second spot in the group on the head-to-head record, but that contest was level until the visitors were reduced to 10 men.

‘It was a very tough game,’ reflects the Blues boss. ‘They went 1-0 up before we got back to 1-1 and then they went down to 10 men so there’s no way this is going to be an easy game.

‘We’re in their backyard and you could say it favours them a bit because this is what they’re used to during these winter months so it will be down to making sure we do right things off the ball more than anything and showing that desire to go out there and win.

‘I know it’s a game where they have to beat us by more than so many goals to go through but anything is possible in football so we have to make sure our mentality is spot-on and still play our game under these conditions.’

The permutations

Our Under-19s can finish either second or third in Group H, meaning either a place in the play-off round or elimination. Top spot and its automatic route to the last-16 was secured by Juventus following their win at Cobham last time out.

That means the young Blues must avoid a defeat worse than the 3-1 margin of victory by which we beat Zenit on matchday one to ensure our place in the play-offs, the winners of which join the last-16 knockout round. A win for Zenit would see them join us on nine points, leaving the head-to-head record between the two teams to decide who finishes higher. A win or draw would send us safely through.

How to follow

The contest kicks off at 9am UK time (12pm in St Petersburg) and can be watched live on BT Sport 2.