CHELSEA set a Conference League record after their Thursday night demolition of Noah, leaving many questioning the tournaments credibility.
New boss Enzo Maresca has made an impressive start to his tenure with the blues who qualified for the Conference League for the first time in their history last season.
Despite playing with a so called ‘B’ team, Maresca’s men have won their opening three matches in the competition, with star man Cole Palmer not even registered in the squad.
An 8-0 thrashing over Armenian side Noah on Thursday broke the previous record in the competition which was a margin of two goals.
Speaking with TNT Sport, former Chelsea midfielder Joe Cole said: “Chelsea shouldn’t be in this competition, but this is where they are.”
“This tournament doesn’t start for Chelsea until the quarter-finals or semi-finals. They are massive favourites to win it and they should be.”
The blues, who currently rank eight in Uefa’s club rankings, would become the first club to win the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League.
Their opponents on Thursday, Noah, were founded just seven years ago and rank 311th on Uefa’s rankings.
According to Transfermarkt the value of the entire Noah squad is £6.5m, while Chelsea’s record signing alone (Enzo Fernandez) cost over £100m.
How Chelsea ended up in the Conference League?
Chelsea finished sixth in the Premier League last season under former boss Mauricio Pochettino, winning their final five Premier League games of the season.
For the majority of the season it looked as if Chelsea would struggle to finish above mid-table, however they were unlucky to have lost out on Europa League football, after seventh placed Manchester Utd won the FA Cup to steal the spot from the blues.
Chelsea are now odds-on favourites to win the competition as they sit top of the table, three points clear of the automatic qualification spots.
An opportunity for Chelsea’s ‘B’ team
Chelsea’s massive squad size has been a big talking point within the media since the arrival of new boss Maresca, with several big name first-team players struggling for game time in the Premier League.
Maresca has named a completely different first eleven from the previous game for each of Chelsea’s first three Conference League matches.
Top scorer Christopher Nkunku has only started one match this season in the Premier League, but has started and scored in each of their three Conference League games including two against Noah taking his tally to 10.
Speaking in a press conference before their match against Noah, Maresca said: “I’ve said many times, the players who play in the Premier League can also play in the Conference League and the players who play in the Conference League can also play in the Premier League.
“The season is so long and there are many games, so for sure all the players can play Conference League and Premier League games.”
Summer signing Joao Felix is another high profile player struggling for minutes in the Premier League this season, with star man Cole Palmer providing tough competition in his position, the Portuguese forward is the joint top scorer in the Conference League with four.
