Chelsea 2-0 Servette: Madueke´s second gives Blues strong advantage in qualifying

Christopher Nkunku and Noni Madueke’s second-half goals gave Chelsea a 2-0 advantage over Servette in their Europa Conference League play-off tie.

The Blues put the disappointment of their Premier League defeat to Manchester City behind them, taking control of qualifying in the first leg at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea made a slow start to the game, with Gael Ondoua causing an early scare for Filip Jorgensen from a tight angle, though the goalkeeper was equal to it.

The Blues then stepped up the pace after the break – Nkunku darted in behind Servette’s defence before being taken out by Jeremy Frick, and he made no mistake with the resulting penalty, emphatically firing it into the back of the net.

Marc Guiu should have doubled their lead moments later, picking Frick’s pocket outside the box, but the goalkeeper recovered brilliantly to race back and smother both attempts by the Spaniard, who should have done better.

Madueke then made sure of the win with 14 minutes left on the clock, latching onto Enzo Fernandez’s throughball before rifling his shot over Frick and into the roof of the net.

Jeremy Guillermenot should have halved the deficit in stoppage time but lifted his volley over the bar from point-blank range before Jorgensen denied him again with the last touch of the game.

Get in there! #CFC | #UECL pic.twitter.com/I4PtUXLB9N

— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) August 22, 2024

Data Debrief: Blues up and running

Chelsea look like they are starting to gel in the final third, after struggling to do so in their opening league game.

They had seven shots on target out of 14, both more than they managed last Sunday, generating 1.87 expected goals, and had 56 final third entries.

There is still work to do at the back though, as they gave up 22 shots from the Swiss side, but Enzo Maresca will still take confidence from their clean sheet.