It’s less than a week since the best teams in England kicked off the new season and Chelsea are already hitting the headlines for the wrong reasons.
They started the Premier League with a 2-0 home defeat against defending champions Manchester City and Thursday night football returns to Stamford Bridge with the first leg of an Europa Conference League play-off match against Servette from Switzerland before Sunday’s tricky trip to Wolves.
But it is off the field incidents which continue to blight the Blues with the most prominent being Raheem Sterling’s frustration at being left out of the squad to face City on Sunday.
He is also surplus to requirements for the qualifier with Servette with Ben Chilwell, Wesley Fofana and summer signing Tosin Adarabioyo among others omitted and the former Manchester City and Liverpool star looks likely to be heading for the exit before the transfer window closes at 11pm on Friday, August 30. Juventus have reportedly asked about Sterling’s availability
Meanwhile, Conor Gallagher’s move to Atletico Madrid has already been finalised and another eight to ten of members of the bloated squad could still be departing, with Chelsea desperately needing to cut numbers to prevent further unwelcome distractions in the ranks.
The King’s Road club have long been expected to sign Napoli’s former Lyon goal machine Victor Osimhen to boost an attack desperately seeking a high-profile striker. Paris Saint-Germain have backed away from the race for the Nigeria international so Blues may have a clear run.
At least the move to bring Joao Felix back to London from Atletico Madrid is set to be finalised with immediate effect and Cole Palmer has been named as the PFA young player of the year after his exceptional 2023/24 season.
Chelsea need a decent win against Servette to dispel some of the storm clouds still lingering over the club and should achieve it with ease, even though their opponents only lost 2-1 on aggregate to Braga in the Europa League play-offs before dropping down a tier for another chance.
Kieran Dewsbury-Hall, signed from his old club by former Leicester boss Enzo Maresca, could start after leaving the bench in the second half against City, and he’s 17/2 with bet365 to open the scoring and 12/5 to score at any time with the same firm, offering 13/2 the first leg finishes with a 3-0 home win.
• Lancashire Oaks winner Queen of the Pride can add the Yorkshire Oaks to her impressive CV at York in Thursday’s feature race at the Ebor Festival at 11/4 with Betway, Betfair and Paddy Power, while Bopedro has each-way claims in the Clipper Handicap at 16/1 with bet365. Big Evs has won six of his last eight outings, including a fine victory at Glorious Goodwood, and is 4/1 with BetUK and BetMGM to win the Nunthorpe on Friday while Ziggy appeals e/w at 16/1 with Ladbrokes, Coral, William Hill and many others in Saturday’s Ebor Handicap.
• Burnley, Birmingham, Bradford and Port Vale form Saturday’s Football League acca.
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