Chelsea takes first-leg advantage against Servette

Chelsea put away their first-half struggles to beat Swiss side Servette 2-0 in the first leg of their UEFA Conference League playoff round fixture at Stanford Bridge on Thursday evening. The Blues were playing their second competitive fixture of the 2024/2025 season against the Swiss opponents in Enzo Maresca’s first European fixture as a coach.

Furthermore, Chelsea were hoping to get a victory which will be their first after losing 2-0 to Manchester City in their first Premier League game last Sunday. Their visitors also played a fixture over the weekend although their 7-1 victory was in a Cup fixture against a lower league opponent.

Enzo Maresca started with keeper Filip Jorgensen in goal, and there was a debut for new signing Pedro Neto; Renato Viega was handed a start as well, while Marc Guiu and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall all made the lineup.

It was the visitors who enjoyed the majority of the first half but failed to find the back of the net despite many chances to do so. Chelsea had five shots all game (compared to the visitors’ eight) but it was until the second half before any of them could count.

The first goal of the game came through Christopher Nkunku, who dispatched a penalty, and a few moments later, Chelsea could have made it 2-0, but Marc Guiu missed an open net in an unbelievable manner.

The second goal would eventually come through Noni Madueke, who hit a spectacular with less than fifteen minutes left on the clock. 

The second leg of the game would happen in Geneva as Chelsea will hope they have done enough to get to the group stage of the competition.

Chelsea travel to Wolves in the Premier League at the weekend and coach Maresca hopes Cole Palmer will be fit in time for that fixture after wobbling off in Thursday’s win.

“Cole [Palmer] felt something, but he looks fine. Hopefully, it is no problem, and he can be available for Sunday’s game [at Wolves].” Maresca said.