Football Bet of the Day: Chelsea to have a productive evening in front of goal

Chelsea have a chance of competing in Europe this season, albeit not their competition of choice, as they host Servette for the first leg of their Europa Conference League play-off on Thursday (20:00, TNT Sports).

The Blues will be looking for a response after they suffered a 2-0 defeat to Manchester City in their Premier League opener on Sunday. With a crowded squad, Enzo Maresca can make many changes to his side for this one, and still produce a strong starting XI. It is from this match that my football bet of the day comes, which you will find below.

Chelsea vs Servette Odds

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The whole situation at Stamford Bridge right now is just bonkers. They currently have a squad approaching the 40-mark and that number is continuing to rise.

They look set to add another expensive signing to the mix as former loanee Joao Felix is coming back permanently from Atletico Madrid, while academy graduate Conor Gallagher goes in the other direction in a separate deal.

It is certainly going to be difficult for Enzo Maresca to manage such a bloated squad and find a way to include all the big profiles available to him. You have to believe that many of the young players will go out on loan, and some of the more senior figures will be sold to make some money back.

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Winger Noni Madueke didn't feature at the weekend and he has been linked with both Arsenal and Newcastle United. With the arrival of Pedro Neto last week, it looks like the former PSV Eindhoven man could be on his way out before the deadline.

However, there is a chance that he will be given a chance to play in midweek, along with a few other fringe players, to prove whether they deserve game time in the Premier League, or just to put them in the shop window.

Either way, those players, such as Madueke, will look to impress should they feature on Thursday as it can either boost them up the pecking order at Stamford Bridge, or help accelerate an exit in search of more minutes.

The Chelsea XI could be heavily rotated from the one that lost to Man City at the weekend and yet it should still have more than enough quality to take a commanding lead in this play-off tie. That is why I have gone for Chelsea to win 3-0 as my football bet of the day.

Madueke, Mykhailo Mudryk, Pedro Neto, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall could all be given the nod to start on Thursday, having all been on the bench at the weekend, which highlights just how many options in depth Chelsea have.

This will make Swiss Super League side Servette's visit to the English capital that much more difficult, as they know a heavy defeat here will all but end their hopes of reaching the group stage.

Maresca and his players will want a swift response after the weekend's defeat at home, and I think they can put on a show for the supporters. I am backing them to win 3-0 here to head into next week's clash in Switzerland in a commanding position.

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