How should Chelsea line up against Gent in our first UEFA Conference League match?
Today at 01:17 AM
Chelsea vs. KAA Gent, Conference League: You choose the starting lineup
After inching past Servette in a two-legged playoff, Chelsea will host our first ever UEFA Conference League (proper) match this Thursday at Stamford Bridge. It will be the first of six "league phase" (néé group stage) matches for us in this competition, after which things will get a bit more interesting in the knockout rounds (barring some major shocks and upsets in this initial phase).
Basically, we shouldn't have too much trouble in reaching said knockout rounds: a notion underlined by the fact that Cole Palmer, Wesley Fofana, and Roméo Lavia were not even registered to play in these first six games. Enzo Maresca has said that we would like to use this competition to spread some minutes around, much like we might in the early rounds of domestic cups.
With an almost fully healthy squad — only Reece James remains absent — there should be plenty of potential takers for those minutes.
