Chelsea's Europa Conference League campaign begins on Thursday night when they welcome Belgian side K.A.A. Gent to Stamford Bridge.
Ahead of the fixture, Everything Chelsea has listed three things Chelsea fans should look out for, including a player who has Blue in his DNA.
The return of Romeo Lavia
As he did for the 5-0 Carabao Cup win over Barrow last week, manager Enzo Maresca will likely use Thursday's game against Gent to give his Premier League regulars some rest and the remainder of the squad some much-needed game time.
Among those set to feature is Romeo Lavia.
The Belgian midfielder started the first two games of the season against Manchester City and Servette before being sidelined for a month with a hamstring injury.
He made a cameo appearance in Saturday's 4-2 win over Brighton, but is expected to start against Gent.
Speaking on Lavia's return last week, Maresca said he is "very excited."
Predicted line-up: Jorgensen; Gusto, Disasi, Badiashile, Veiga; Lavia, Dewsbury-Hall; Neto, Felix, Mudryk; Nkunku
A familiar name
While Chelsea fans can be forgiven for likely not knowing many of Gent's players, one name they will almost certainly recognise is Andri Gudjohnsen.
The 22-year-old Icelandic striker is the son of Blues legend Eidur Gudjohnsen.
Andri joined Gent from Danish club Lyngby this summer and has since scored twice in 13 games.
Eidur made 263 appearances and scored 78 goals for Chelsea between 2000 and 2006 before moving to FC Barcelona. He is widely considered as the greatest Icelandic footballer of all-time.
History in the making
This season marks Chelsea's first-ever appearance in the Europa Conference League and, unsurprisingly, they are the favourites to win the competition.
If the Blues did win it, they would become the first team in history to have won all four of Europe's major cup competitions, having already lifted the Champions League, Europa League, and Cup Winners' Cup.
Speaking in a pre-match press conference on Wednesday, Maresca said of the Europa Conference League: "It is an official competition so we are excited. We are going to do our best. It's a European competition and we need to be ready for that."
Comments