Chelsea square off with Servette in the first leg of their Europa Conference League playoff tie at Stamford Bridge on Thursday night.
Following a strong finish to last season, the Blues secured a top-six berth and a place in Europe’s third tier competition.
Having won both the Champions League and the Europa League in the last five years, Chelsea will unsurprisingly be among the favourites to lift the Conference League trophy.
The Enzo Maresca era got off to a losing start in the Premier League on Sunday, as the Blues were beaten 2-0 by Man City, in a game that brought up one of my foul bets.
Servette, meanwhile, have dropped down into the Conference League qualifiers after being eliminated from the Europa League preliminaries by Sporting Braga.
Thomas Haberli’s team have made a mixed start to their Swiss Super League campaign, winning their opening three matches before suffering back-to-back defeats, though they did stroll to a 7-1 win in the Swiss Cup against lowly Signal FC Bernex-Confignon on Sunday.
How the bookies view it: Blues big favourites
Chelsea are as short as 1/6 on Bet 365 to secure a first leg advantage at Stamford Bridge on Thursday night.
Servette are huge underdogs at 11/1 on Bet 365 while an all square first leg is also deemed unlikely at 6/1 with the same firm.
Head to head: History book blank
The two clubs will cross paths for the first time ever on Thursday night. Chelsea last came up against Swiss opposition during the group stages of the 2013-14 Champions League, beating Basel both home and away.
Players to watch: Palmer to put Swiss to the sword?
Cole Palmer could make his European debut for Chelsea on Thursday night. The Blues talisman has been priced up at 4/5 on Bet 365 for an anytime strike against Servette.
Dereck Kutesa has netted three times across his five appearances for Servette this season, yet he is as big as 13/2 (Bet 365) to make the net bulge on Thursday night.
Predicted line-ups
After being on the wrong end of a 2-0 reverse against Man City on Sunday, Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca is expected to make some changes to his line-up on Thursday.
Similarly, Servette boss Thomas Haberli will almost certainly shuffle his pack at Stamford Bridge after fielding a much-changed starting XI in the Swiss Cup last weekend.
Chelsea: Sanchez; Gusto, W. Fofana, Colwill, Cucurella; Fernandez, Lavia, Caicedo; Neto, Nkunku, Palmer
Servette: Frick; Tsunemoto, Baron, Severin, Mazikou; Ondoua, Cognat; Stevanovic, Antunes, Kutesa; Crivelli
Anything else catch the eye?
With Chelsea far too short to side with here, I’ll head to the Bet Builder with a view to obtaining a backable price.
Bundling up the Blues in the half time/full time market alongside a minimum of one second half strike from the hosts will bring about a 4/5 shot on Bet 365.
With fixtures set to come thick and fast for Chelsea before the international break, Blues boss Enzo Maresca will want his side to get the job done here with minimum fuss.
This bet builder would have paid out in Servette's 2-1 defeat to Braga last week and the same formula looks worthy of interest in West London on Thursday.
This UEFA Europa League Conference match between Chelsea and Servette will be played on Aug 22, 2024 and kick off at 20:00. Check below for our tipsters best Chelsea vs Servette prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
