The teams who top the bill in Group H both won when the Champions League took its first curtain call this season: Chelsea beat Zenit by a goal to nil and Juventus mangled Malmo 3-0.

Nothing can be taken for granted in Europe’s elite competition but three points for either team in Turin would represent a significant advance towards the Round of 16. The pair meet again at the Bridge in November.

The two favourites to reach the knockout stage square up in Piedmont with different frames of mind after the weekend action. The Blues were beaten for the first time and performed a level below the usual. The Bianconeri have positive momentum, winning the last two after a sluggish opening to their Serie A campaign.

The Londoners have also lost four straight Champions League games in Italy, each to a different side – Inter (2009/10), Napoli (2011/12), Roma (2017/18) and Juve in 2012/13.

However, London’s reigning European champions have a formidable recent record in this competition, remaining undefeated in the past 12 group games since September 2019, and winning six of the seven aways played since October 2017.

Victory tonight will take us to 150 victories in European football in our 278th match. Should the Blues prevail without conceding it would record a fourth consecutive such win in the Champions League by the club for the first time.

Chelsea team news

Injury and illness have depleted the Chelsea squad that flew to northern Italy with Reece James, Mason Mount, Christian Pulisic and N’Golo Kante ruled out. The team lacked their usual vigour against Manchester City on Saturday and we have since learned that key man Kante has tested positive for Covid.

Thiago Silva was not ready to start but had to be an early substitute for the stricken James, who may miss the next two games. On the positive side Kante’s illness could provide an opening for Ruben Loftus-Cheek, whose dynamism between the lines was a rare bright spark against Guardiola’s side. Equally, Thomas Tuchel may want to see Saul in a European setting.

It was a first defeat of the season for the Blues, who had been taken to penalties by Aston Villa in the Carabao Cup 61 hours earlier. The last time Chelsea registered zero shots on target in a game was also against Man City in the Carabao Cup in February 2019.

Tuchel, a master of the marginals, accepted his tactical gambles in midfield and upfront did not pay off, but the overall lack of intensity and belief disappointed him too.

All must be put behind for the first jaunt of the season outside the UK as we continue the defence of our European crown with a return to Turin. Both sides are very different nine years on: Cesar Azpilicueta is the sole survivor from the 2012 encounters with the Juventus of Andrea Pirlo and co.

The Londoners’ winner in the first group game came from a summer signing from Serie A, Romelu Lukaku, who has faced the Old Lady six times, most recently in May. Back then, the Belgian sent Szczesny the wrong way from the spot, saw Betancour booked for a foul on him, then forced a panicky own-goal from Chiellini, who was also cautioned.

Tonight may bring a return to the 3-4-3 set-up, with Lukaku and two wide forwards looking to capitalise on sometimes shaky Juve defending. The Bianconeri have conceded plenty of chances at set-plays but only one has been buried so far.

After this, perhaps the biggest challenge of the group, the Blues play Malmo back-to-back.

Re-Juvenating

Last season’s slip of the crown brought the Old Lady’s most recent golden age to a close. The nine-time Scudetto champions (2006/07-2019/20) lost out to Romelu Lukaku’s Internazionale and currently stand 10th in the Serie A table.

Five of those triumphs were under coach Max Allegri, who is back but managing a squad in a different moment, with opponents sensing vulnerability. They drew at mid-table Udinese and surprisingly lost at home to newly promoted Empoli.

For two recent wins the coach used a 4-4-2 formation, rather than the old 4-3-3. He still has his players attack space very quickly, the midfield picking out long passes to Euros star man Federico Chiesa, whose direct ingenuity starts in wide areas. Hard-working American Weston McKennie has replaced the height lost with Ronaldo’s departure, with the playmaker’s long throws adding value.

The new Juve have been quick-starters but late-conceders in the league: four goals without reply in the opening quarter-hour, but the exact opposite in the final 15 minutes. Their only clean sheet of 2021/22 has been the 3-0 beating of Malmo in this competition and both league wins finished 3-2.

The bill for Sunday lunch with Sampdoria came with unwanted extras: a tweaked hamstring for Alvaro Morata and recurrence of an old injury for Paulo Dybala. That depletes their strike force considerably: the missing pair have accounted for six of the Bianconeri’s 13 goals in all competitions

Moise Kean is a likely beneficiary, possibly alongside the young Swede Dejan Kulusevski, unless Allegri chooses a 4-3-3 set-up with the ex-Everton man as lone striker flanked by main chance-creators Chiesa and Juan Cuadrado.

The speedy former Chelsea winger, though, has found more regular employment as a right-back, though in a defence that drew anxious groans from home supporters against Sampdoria.

Incumbent goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny had been dropped after conceding eight goals in six games (four of them second shots after his saves) but the goals still came with Mattia Perin between the posts. The younger keeper claims a few more crosses and launches the ball longer when he has it.

Giorgio Chiellini’s return after illness was held back for tonight, but Leonardo Bonucci showed he is still a commanding presence in both goal areas – even when on spot-kick duty. The two central defenders could be flanked this evening by Brazilian full-backs Alex Sandro and Danilo in a back four sharing 131 years between them.

Past with Juve

Chelsea and Juventus have met before in the group and knockout stage. Each side has won one of the four matches and the other two were 2-2 draws.

The Old Lady had the better of the exchanges in 2012/13 when the Blues, reigning champions, were decidedly off-colour. At the Bridge, Antonio Conte’s Juve side [although he was not In the dug-out] clawed their way back to level pegging after Oscar had brilliantly put the Londoners 2-0 up.

Chelsea coach and club legend Roberto di Matteo did not survive his gamble at the new Juventus Stadium the following November: he had dropped Fernando Torres to try Eden Hazard as a false 9 but the hosts won 3-0. Rafa Benitez then led the Blues to Europa League glory in Amsterdam.

We met previously in the 2008/09 Round of 16. After a 1-0 win home win, the Londoners came from behind twice through Michael Essien and Didier Drogba to reach the quarter-finals.

Elsewhere in Group H

Zenit and Malmo will both hope to chalk up their first points of the campaign when they meet for the early kick-off in St Petersburg.

The Russians bounced back from their opening night loss at the Bridge, registering their fourth consecutive Russian Premier League win at the weekend. The visitors have also won their last two domestic matches, thrashing Orebro 5-1 at home on Saturday.

Entertainment Serie A

The league once synonymous with a love of imperious defending is enjoying a flood of goals. The average number scored in Serie A matches so far this season is 3.28 – the highest in Italy since the 1949/50 season, when players filled their ankle-high boots with 3.33 per game.

It feels like a trend towards entertainment when you consider 2020/21 (3.06 per game) and 2019/20 (3.04) already ranked eighth and tenth respectively on the all-time highest averages list. The 24 seasons when goals were hardest to come by were all in the 1960s to 1980s, when the Catenaccio (‘door bolt’) philosophy held sway.

Blowing the doors off

On Saturday Juventus face neighbours Torino in the ‘Derby della Mole’ – named after the imposing Mole Antonelliana landmark that is home to the city’s famous cinema museum.

Inside you will struggle to find a mention of the legendary 1969 British film ‘The Italian Job’, in which Mini Coopers occupied by lifelong Blues fan Michael Caine and co. evade matchday jams to escape with the city’s gold, manoeuvring through picturesque Piedmont in an unforgettable car chase.

Never the less one line from the screenplay might resonate with the English visitors 52 years on: ‘It’s a very difficult job and the only way to get through it is we all work together as a team.’

Young guns at the Vinovo

Two-time winners of the UEFA Youth League, Chelsea U19s came from behind to beat Zenit 3-1 at Cobham in the opening game of this season’s tournament, whose group stage fixtures mirrors those of the seniors.The young Chelsea side’s 3pm kick-off (UK time) at Juve’s training ground today can be watched on Uefa.tv or BT Sport.

Champions League results and fixtures

Tuesday

Group ARB Leipzig 1 Club Brugge 2Paris Saint Germain 2 Man City 0

Group BAC Milan 1 Atletico Madrid 2Porto 1 Liverpool 5

Group CAjax 2 Besiktas 0Borussia Dortmund 1 Sporting Lisbon 0

Group DShakhtar Donetsk 0 Inter Milan 0Real Madrid 1 Sheriff Tiraspol 2

Wednesday

Group EBenfica v Barcelona 8pmBayern Munich v Dynamo Kiev 8pm

Group FAtalanta v Young Boys 5.45pmMan Utd v Villarreal 8pm

Group GRB Salzburg v Lille 8pmWolfsburg v Sevilla 8pmGroup HZenit St Petersburg v Malmo 5.45pmJuventus v Chelsea 8pm