With every result, Enzo Maresca is making Chelsea believe again. As his side coasted to victory – their fifth in succession in all competitions – in the dying minutes here against Gent, the Italian could be seen prowling the touchline still bellowing out instructions. At a club where the thinking has become increasingly muddled in recent years, Maresca’s straightforward approach is already paying dividends.
The impressive Renato Veiga opened the scoring with his first goal since joining in the summer before Pedro Neto, Christopher Nkunku and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall saw off the Belgian side. Without the services of Cole Palmer after the four-goal hero was left out of their Conference League squad, Chelsea showed that they have plenty of other options and it will be difficult for anyone to stop them becoming the first side to complete the full set of European trophies if they decide to take this competition seriously.
“You can see the identity of the team and that is the most important thing. We are performing very well. We are happy,” said Maresca.
“The last three or four games we have shown a real purpose but we can still do many things better in attack and defence.”
Even with 11 changes from their impressive win over Brighton here last weekend, the Chelsea manager was able to name a forward line that cost £200m to assemble. According to the website TransferRoom, their squad is worth roughly the same as the other 35 clubs who are taking part in this season’s Conference League and they began the group stages as heavy favourites to go all the way to the final in Wroclaw.
Gent have played in every edition of this tournament since it was introduced by Uefa in 2021.
Wouter Vrancken’s side have battled through three qualifying rounds to reach this stage after finishing seventh in the Belgian league and included two players with famous fathers in their starting lineup. Eidur Gudjohnsen was in the stands to watch his son, 22-year-old striker Andri, almost score against his former club, while Noah Fadiga also did his father – the Bolton and Senegal winger Khalilou Fadiga – proud.
But with Pedro Neto and Mykhailo Mudryk in the mood to impress in the absence of Palmer and company, Chelsea’s second string were far too strong.
Neto had already set up Tosin Adarabioyo for a header with a delicate cross moments before Mudryk popped up on the same flank to deliver an inch-perfect ball for Veiga to head home at the back post after only 12 minutes. Dewsbury-Hall should have doubled the lead when Neto wiggled away from his marker and squared the ball into the midfielder’s path but he shot just wide.
Gent’s first sight of goal came just after the half hour mark when Archie Brown, a product of Derby’s academy who plays for England’s Under-20 side, drew Filip Jörgensen into a save after a quick break. But their vociferous travelling support could not believe it when Gudjohnsen fired inches over with a powerful drive that would have left the Chelsea goalkeeper with no chance.
Barely 30 seconds had elapsed since the restart when Neto took advantage of a moment’s hesitation between Hugo Gambor and Tsuyoshi Watanabe to lash home Chelsea’s second goal after a long ball from captain Axel Disasi. But Gent hit back immediately when the Japan defender rose above Benoît Badiashile and headed in Gudjohnsen’s cross to the delight of the fans behind Jörgensen’s goal.
Chelsea were forced to go on the attack again and Nkunku celebrated being called up by France by making Gent pay for failing to clear a corner when he lashed home from inside the area. Dewsbury-Hall removed any lingering doubts about the result when he raced onto João Félix’s through ball to score Chelsea’s fourth and his first since following Maresca from Leicester. “I know that he needed that – it’s never easy when you join a new club,” said the Chelsea manager.
To their credit, Gent continued to attack and a brilliant run from Brown saw the 22-year-old almost pull one back late on before substitute Omri Gandelman grabbed a late consolation that did little to dampen the home crowd’s enthusiasm.
