Tonight at Stamford Bridge, the third instalment of the Conference League matches sees Chelsea, the second-youngest playing staff in the competition at 24.2 years, face Noah, who are the third-oldest at 28.9.

The Blues are the league leaders, sharpest marksmen and best passers in UEFA’s third-ranked competition – and have won ten of the past 13 European outings at Stamford Bridge, eight of them with clean sheets.

Founded in 2017, Noah are only the second Armenian side to make it to a UEFA group stage, and the second to face an English team – after Ararat, who bowed out of the Cup Winners’ Cup to West Ham in 1975.

This is the Yerevan-based club’s third UEFA campaign, and they were given ample time to prepare for the trip to London as the domestic visit of Urarte was brought forward to Friday – they beat the league leaders 2-1.

Rui Mota’s team have lost each of their last three away matches in Europe, including a 1-0 at Rapid Vienna on matchday two that left them 18th in the Conference League table.

Chelsea saw off Gent 4-2 at the Bridge and overpowered Panathinaikos 4-1 in Athens to top the table in this competition.

The Londoners have not opened a continental campaign with three successive victories since the 2018/19 Europa League – which we won by beating Arsenal 4-1 in the final.

Should the goals rain down on Noah this evening, Chelsea could create club history by netting four or more goals in each of our first three European campaign fixtures.

Team news

Tonight’s team selection could tell us as much about the Arsenal game in three days’ time as it will Enzo Maresca’s tactical approach to our third match in this phase of the Conference League.

There is a chance we see the same XI that started the 4-1 victory at Panathinaikos, with Christopher Nkunku potentially leading the line – the Frenchman has started and scored in all four games to date if you include the play-offs.

Three of those balloon-blowing moments have come from penalties, and our next successful conversion will be the Londoners’ 500th ever spot-kick goal across all competitions.

Last time out in this competition, Mykhailo Mudryk scored one and set up two of the Blues’ four goals.

Marcus Bettinelli, Cole Palmer, Ben Chilwell, Romeo Lavia and Wesley Fofana were left out of Chelsea’s league phase squad.

Chelsea vs Noah – the history

Chelsea have never previously faced Noah or any other Armenian club. As referenced above, the only European tie between the two countries came in the 1975/76 Cup Winners’ Cup, West Ham beating Ararat 3-1 at home and drawing 1-1 away.

Conference League regulations

All 36 clubs involved are ranked on the same table. After each has played six matches, the top eight will advance straight to March’s round of 16.

The next eight highest must enter knockout phase play-offs in February as seeds, to face one of the unseeded sides finishing in positions 17 to 24. Sides from 25 down are eliminated.

In the event that two or more clubs are tied on points after the league stage, rankings will be determined, in order, by: goal difference; goals scored; away goals scored; number of wins; and number of away wins.

The Video Assistant Referee system is used in this competition and a player receiving three yellow cards will serve a one-match suspension.

The final will take place on Wednesday 28 May at the Wroclaw Stadium in Poland.

The winners of this competition qualify for the league phase of the 2025/26 UEFA Europa League.

Know this…

Chelsea have recorded a passing accuracy of 93.5 per cent over the opening two Conference League fixtures – the best in the competition.

Noah keeper Ognjen Cancarevic has made the second-most saves (12) behind Ati-Zigi of St Gallen (14).

In Noah’s shock qualifying round victory over AEK Athens, Cancarevic scored with a long punt from his own box – the first recorded in UEFA history.

Benoit Badiashile, Axel Disasi, Joao Felix, Philip Jorgensen, Mudryk and Renato Veiga have played every minute of the league stage to date.

On this day in 2012, Stamford Bridge witnessed a see-saw 3-2 victory in which future Blue Willian equalised twice for visitors Shakhtar Donetsk – before Victor Moses headed in the late winner.