Even at this early stage, Zenit St Petersburg and AS Monaco will meet at the Petrovsky Stadium on Wednesday in the knowledge that a victory could go a long way to securing their place in the knockout stages of this season's Champions League.
Both teams got off to winning starts on matchday one, with Zenit having overcome Benfica, while Ligue 1 outfit Monaco saw off Bayer Leverkusen.
In terms of team selection, Zenit head coach Andre Villas-Boas will be sweating over the fitness of centre-back Ezequiel Garay and striker Hulk, although both are expected to shake off knocks to feature.
Elsewhere, suspension ruled Viktor Fayzulin out of the clash with Benfica, but he will return to the squad, yet the match is likely to have come too soon for holding midfielder Anatoliy Tymoshchuk, who only recently returned to training following an abductor injury.
As far as visiting Monaco are concerned, Lacina Traore and Borja Lopez are yet to feature this term because of hamstring and knee complaints respectively, while a thigh injury has sidelined Aymen Abdennour.
Three French clubs have previously made the trip to Zenit, but none have left with a victory. Meanwhile, Monaco last faced Russian opposition on their way to the Champions League final in 2004. They drew 2-2 with Lokomotiv Moscow, but advanced through to the semi-finals on the away goals rule.
Recent form
Zenit: WWWWWD
Monaco: DLWWWL
Possible starting lineups
Zenit: Lodygin; Criscito, Garay, Lombaerts, Smolnikov; Garcia, Faizulin; Danny, Hulk, Shatov; Rondon
Monaco: Subasic; Kurzawa, Raggi, Carvalho, Fabinho; Toulalan, Kondogbia; Moutinho, Ocampos, Carrasco; Berbatov
Sports Mole says: 2-0
Liam Apicella
