The past few matches have returned good results for Chelsea and they will look to keep it going when hosting Gent. The Blues should have an easy time in this match as they started their Conference League campaign. We have the match preview and a prediction below.
Former European champions and also Europa League winners, Chelsea can set a first in winning the Conference League. By their profile coming into this competition, the Blues will be among the favorites to lift the title.
A 4-2 win against Brighton in their last game handed Chelsea their fourth straight victory. With such a run, they should be able to start their Conference League campaign well.
Gent are now becoming regulars at this stage of the competition. In each of the last three seasons, they participated in the group/league phases and went all the way to the knockouts.
With that history, the Belgians will be justified to feel they can get past this opponent. Wouter Vrancken’s charges warmed up for this key game with a 3-0 win at home to OH Leuven in the First Division A.
That was their third win in four matches and a second clean sheet in that same run. Despite heading to London as underdogs, it will be key to note that Gent haven't lost a Conference League game in their last seven outings.
They negotiated three rounds of the qualifiers, wrapping up with a 2-0 aggregate win against Partizan.
These two sides are coming from strong runs, but Chelsea will be the clear favorites. One outstanding thing about them both, is their goal-scoring prowess. Chelsea have nine goals in their last two matches and even more when we look at the earlier matches.
A fine scoring run has also been witnessed in Gent’s recent matches, which have pushed the numbers to over three goals. Going by the teams’ recent stats, we expect high scores here. Our prediction for Chelsea v Gent is for the match to have over 2.5 goals.