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Chelsea secured an unexpected 2-0 win over Servette in the first leg of the Conference League play-offs. Stamford BridgeGoal in the second half Christopher Nkunku And Noni Madueke This was enough to give Enzo Maresca’s side the lead in the match.
This was the Italian head coach’s second match but there were already signs of discontent among the home fans, who walked out on the team at the end of the first half as they failed to mount a serious attack against a side currently fifth in the Swiss league table.
Nkunku was awarded a penalty in the 50th minute, won thanks to the first real impressive pass of the game from Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, which eventually led to the break for Servette, who had been dealing with the defence relatively easily until then and could have taken the lead through winger Derek Kutesa.
Madueke came off the bench to score Chelsea’s second goal to give the team a comfortable lead ahead of next Thursday’s match in Geneva.
Maresca made nine changes to the side that lost to Manchester City on Sunday. Moses fellwho captained the side for the first time, and Nkunku remaining.
It meant full debuts for six summer players, including striker Marc Guieu, who was inches away from scoring in the second minute after he lobbed fellow full debutant Dewsbury-Hall’s pass past the goalkeeper but failed to get to the ball as it went out of his reach behind the goal.
Servette continued to threaten and broke through Chelsea’s lines when Kutesa played a one-two with Keigo Tsunemoto inside the box, then fired a low shot past Axel Disasi which was saved by goalkeeper Philip Jorgensen.
Chelsea relied too much on their two wide forwards, Mykhailo Mudryk and Pedro Neto, but although both were constantly on the ball, neither player could provide the delivery or penetration needed to find a way in behind Servette.
Mudric had more success when he tried to cut inside. Guiu held the ball well midway through the first half and allowed the Ukrainian to shoot, but the shot went wide of the post.
Nkunku looked for another central passage, intercepted a loose pass and laid the ball through the middle to Mudric, who slid it out for Neto to come in and hit a left-footed shot. His effort was lacking and fell cleanly into the hands of Jeremy Frick, who epitomised Chelsea’s first-half efforts.
After a match and a half of Maresca’s tenure, the team walked off the field amid fierce criticism from the home fans.
Chelsea were breaking down into wide positions, but in the second minute after the interval Dewsbury-Hall tried to play straight down the middle, allowing the run of Nkunku, who got to the ball before Frick and, although heading away from goal, was brought down. From the resulting penalty, he calmly fired into the corner to go 1-0 up.
Guiu made a horrible mess in the open goal before Maresca sent Cole Palmer in looking for a creative spark.
Instead, two other substitutes helped create goals in the second half, with Enzo Fernandes carrying the ball forward from the right wing, with Madueke surging on to it and slotting the ball in at the near post to calm his team’s nerves.
Jorgensen made a good save from Jeremy Guillemenot to his right after Chelsea lost the ball in defence, before Tiemoko Ouattara smashed the bar, leaving Chelsea with a two-goal lead.