It’s a Geneva convention for Chelsea FC, as they travel to Switzerland looking to secure their place in the UEFA Europa Conference League competition. Up to 2-0 on Swiss side Servette, they’re in a good place to close this deal out. Sure, the road leg will naturally be tougher than the home edition, but Chelsea looked pretty impressive on Sunday, as they throttled Wolves 6-2 in Premier League play. So they should feel pretty confident here about winning the tie.
Wesley Fofana, Raheem Sterling and Ben Chilwell weren’t even registered for UEFA competition, at least for this round.
UEFA Europa Conference League Qualifying FYIs
Chelsea at Servette: Playoff Leg 2/2, Chelsea leads 2-0 on aggregate
Kickoff: Thurs Aug 29, 8pm, Stade de Geneve, Geneva, SwitzerIand
Chelsea Preview Material: Team News Transfer Talk I Transfer Talk II Starting XI Prediction
And in the case of the last two players we named, they’re not even going to be part of the Enzo Maresca project, long-term, at Chelsea anyway.
Elsewhere Moises Caicedo, who was subbed off after a collision on Sunday is an injury doubt, so he won’t be risked. Ditto for Romeo Lavia (hamstring) while Cole Palmer and Nicolas Jackson will get the night off at Servette in the interests of squad rotation.
Chelsea FC Starting XI Prediction at Servette (Conference League Playoff Leg 2/2)
Filip Jorgensen; Alex Disasi, Benoit Badiashile, Levi Colwill, Marc Cucurella; Enzo Fernandez, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall; Noni Madueke, Pedro Neto, Joao Felix; Christopher Nkunku
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter.